Effects of the National School Lunch Program on Bone Growth in Japanese Elementary School Children

Abstract

SummaryThe Japanese school lunch program with milk was designed to supply 33-50% of the necessary nutrients per day and 50% of the recommended dietary allowance for calcium, which is difficult to obtain from Japanese meals. Although this program contributes to the mental and physical development of children, the effect of these meals on the bone growth in children remains unknown. Therefore, we compared the effect of school lunch with milk on bone growth between elementary school children attending schools that did not enforce the school lunch with milk program (box-lunch group) and those attending schools that did enforce the program (school-lunch group). The study subjects included fourth-grade children during the 2009-2013 school years, of whom 329 children were in the school-lunch group and 484 children in the box-lunch group. The bone area ratio of the right calcaneus was evaluated using quantitative ultrasound (Benus III). Dietary intakes were assessed using brief self-administered diet history questionnaires. The subjects were asked to record their activities for 3 d so that the mean physical activity intensity and the time spent sleeping could be estimated. The bone area ratios (%) were significantly higher in the school-lunch group than in the box-lunch group (males 31.060.3 vs. 30.360.2; females 30.660.2 vs. 29.760.2). This tendency did not change even after adjustment for confounding factors associated with bone growth. The results suggest that nutrients supplied by the Japanese school lunch program contributed to increased bone growth in elementary school children.

Breakfast skipping is related to inadequacy of vitamin and mineral intakes among Japanese female junior high school students: a cross-sectional study

“…Inadequacy of intake for each nutrient was determined by comparing nutrient levels with each dietary reference value according to the Japanese DRI using a previously reported method (35)(36)(37) . Different types of dietary reference values comprising the Japanese DRI were established according to their purpose.…”

Infrequent home-cooked meal consumption is related to the inadequacy of dietary fibre and minerals intake among Japanese adults aged 18-64 years: analysis from the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey

“…Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the difference in the prevalence of meeting DRIs based on the Low and Middle groups according to the frequency of the home-cooked meal consumption compared with the High group in the crude and adjusted model. Confounding factors considered in the adjusted model were age category (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50), and 51-64 years), occupation (professional/manager, sales/service/clerical, security/transportation/labour, student, housekeeper, and not in paid employment), living alone or not (yes or no), region (Hokkaido/Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku/Tokai, Kinki, Shikoku/Chugoku, Kyusyu), current smoker (yes or no) and habitual alcohol drinker (yes or no), which was reported as a factor affecting the frequency of consumption of meals prepared away from home [8,27]. All statistical analyses were performed with SAS statistical software, version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).…”

“…Inadequate intake of each nutrient was determined by comparing consumed nutrient levels with the relevant dietary reference value according to the Japanese DRIs, using a previously reported method. [35][36][37] In the Japanese DRIs, different types of dietary reference values were established according to their purpose. The estimated average requirement (EAR) is set to prevent insu cient intake of nutrients, whereas the tentative dietary goal to prevent lifestyle-related diseases (DG) is set to prevent noncommunicable diseases.…”

Consumption of meals prepared away from home is related to the inadequacy of dietary fibre and minerals intake among Japanese adults aged 18-64 years: analysis from the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey

“…Inadequate intake of each nutrient was determined by comparing consumed nutrient levels with the relevant dietary reference value according to the Japanese DRIs, using a previously reported method. [36][37][38] In the Japanese DRIs, different types of dietary reference values were established according to their purpose. The estimated average requirement (EAR) is set to prevent insu cient intake of nutrients, whereas the tentative dietary goal (DG) to prevent lifestyle-related diseases is set to prevent noncommunicable diseases.…”