A new legislation has been formulated by the U. S. Department of Agriculture to raise the nutritional content of the diet taken by children at schools in Alaska.

The rule that was approved on December 13 aims at adding more fruits, veggies and whole grains in the lunched provided to children at school and cutting high content of fats and sodium that poses risk to health.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told that it was for the first time in 15 years that such a rule was formed taking in consideration the rising cases of obesity.

Around 25 million people are either obese or overweight, which is threatening their health with the risk of disease such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health problems.

The new drive to boost nutritional intake especially in the schools would help nearly 32 million children taking a good healthy meal as children take about 30% to 50% of their calories when at school.

As per the new rule, which is a part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the schools will have to reduce the amount of starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn and green peas to a cup a week.

Other recommendations include setting up minimum and maximum levels of calories for children of different age groups; cutting sodium levels in meals in the coming decade, increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables especially green vegetables, offering unflavored and fat-free milk only, reducing trans fat in diet and increasing use of whole grains.