The battle against childhood obesity has led to a new change in guidelines for school lunches.

And though many students and parents might not notice the difference, meals have changed this school year in an effort to make kids healthier.

Ohio County Schools serves more than 4,000 students lunch each school day. With each lunch, there are new federal regulations implemented that school officials said, in the long run, will benefit everyone's health.

Administrators said the new regulations were issued by the USDA in January but just went into effect this school year.

"We've made a lot of these changes in the past two years and students really take well to the added fruits and vegetables," said Renee Griffin, the school system's child nutrition director. "The changes really reflect healthier options for our students. You are going to see a lot more fruits and vegetables on the trays. We now have limits on the amount of proteins we can serve to students as well as whole grains."

On each tray, no one walks away without fruits and vegetables.

"We are required to provide different subgroups of vegetables, meaning different types of dark green vegetables, different types of red and orange vegetables, a limit on the type of starch or other vegetables that we can serve," Griffin said.

She said the new standards are different for each age group. There are three categories: K-5, 6-8 and 9-12. The older a child is, the more calories than can be served.

"I will say that the latest research for childhood obesity is showing that it is leveling off, which is a good thing, whether it is (through) more physical activity, or we are paying closer attention to our eating habits," Griffin said.

She said that studies also show if kids eat breakfast, they will be at a healthier body weight and tend to behave and do better in school.