In 2004, Arthur Agatston (of South Beach Diet fame) overhauled the lunch program of the Osceola County School District, in Florida.

With costs eaten by Agatston’s foundation, white bread and french fries were swapped for whole wheat bread and sweet potato fries. Sugar out; protein in. The kids were also enrolled in a clinical study to track their progress over a few years.

Now the data’s in and—no surprise here—compared to controls who did not eat from the reformed menu, the Agatston kids’ body-mass indices (a common measure of obesity) dropped. A real surprise: their scores on state math tests rose!

The program has been implemented in 81 schools in seven states. Unfortunately, foundation representatives say that our sick economy has squelched all hope of its future funding. Hopefully the local districts will take a look at these positive results and continue to fund it themselves.

(Side note: This is a pet topic for yours truly. Agatston began the program just a few months before I investigated the sad state of the lunch program in Providence public schools—for my very first piece of published (!) journalism.)