Evaluating Changes to Sodium Content in School Meals at a Large, Urban School District in Los Angeles County, California

Cummings, Patricia L.; Burbage, Lindsey; Wood, Michelle; Butler, Rebecca K.; Kuo, Tony

doi:10.1097/phh.0b013e31829f2e50

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Collectively, the findings establish evidence of the effectiveness of SRCP interventions in reducing the amount of sodium served in schools and community meals, contributing to the evidence base established by evaluations of SRCP activities in other venues in other communities (32–34). A key characteristic underlying the effectiveness of SRCP interventions is likely their comprehensive approach to sodium reduction, implicating food service guidelines, procurement practices, food preparation practices, and environmental strategies.…”

Section: Implications For Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 53%

Reducing the Intake of Sodium in Community Settings: Evaluation of Year One Activities in the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, Arkansas, 2016–2017

et al. 2018

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Purpose and ObjectivesThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP) aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. The objective of this study was to evaluate and document the progress of the first year of a 5-year SRCP project in northwest Arkansas.Intervention ApproachIn collaboration with 30 partner schools and 5 partner community meals programs, we sought to reduce dietary sodium intake through increased implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies.Evaluation MethodsWe collected daily menus, information on nutritional content of meals, and procurement records and counted the number of people served in partnering schools and community meals programs. We used a pretest–posttest quantitative evaluation design to analyze changes in the sodium content of meals from baseline to Year 1 follow-up.ResultsFrom baseline to Year 1 follow-up, participating schools lowered the mean sodium content served per lunch diner from 1,103 mg to 980 mg (−11.2%). The schools also reduced the mean sodium content of entrées offered (ie, entrées listed on the menu) from 674 mg to 625 mg (−7.3%) and entrées served from 615 mg to 589 mg (−4.2%). From baseline to follow-up, participating community meals programs reduced the mean sodium content of meals offered (ie, meals listed on the menu) from 1,710 mg to 1,053 mg (−38.4%). The community meals programs reduced the mean sodium content of meals served from 1,509 mg to 1,258 mg (−16.6%).Implications for Public HealthIn both venues, our evaluation findings showed reductions in sodium served during the 1-year evaluation period. These results highlight the potential effectiveness of sodium reduction interventions focused on food service guidelines, procurement practices, food preparation practices, and environmental strategies for schools and community meals programs.

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Section: Implications For Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 53%

Reducing the Intake of Sodium in Community Settings: Evaluation of Year One Activities in the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, Arkansas, 2016–2017

et al. 2018

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“…With such volume and purchasing power, LAUSD has become a national leader in increasing student access to healthy foods through changes to its school meal program (Cummings et al, 2014). In the 2011-2012 school year (SY), the LAUSD Food Services Branch (FSB) launched a new menu that included more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, vegetarian items, and a range of ethnic foods; it also eliminated flavored milk.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student receptivity to new school meal offerings: Assessing fruit and vegetable waste among middle school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District

Gase

McCarthy

Robles

et al. 2014

Preventive Medicine

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Objective We sought to characterize student receptivity to new menu offerings in the Los Angeles Unified School District by measuring the levels of fruit and vegetable waste after implementation of changes to the school lunch menu in fall 2011. Methods We measured waste at four randomly selected middle schools in the school district, using two sources: a) food prepared and left over after service (production waste); and b) food that was selected but not eaten by students (plate waste). Results 10.2% of fruit and 28.7% of vegetable items prepared at the four schools were left over after service. Plate waste data, collected from 2,228 students, suggest that many of them did not select fruit (31.5%) or vegetable (39.6%) items. Among students who did, many threw fruit and vegetable items away without eating a single bite. Conclusions Our findings suggest that fruit and vegetable waste was substantial and that additional work may be needed to increase student selection and consumption of fruit and vegetable offerings. Complementary interventions to increase the appeal of fruit and vegetable options may be needed to encourage student receptivity to these healthier items in the school meal program.

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“…All studies (n = 24) were serial cross‐sectional in design and came from nine countries: seven high‐income and two middle‐income countries (Table ). There were nine studies in the United States (US), three each in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK), two in Canada, and one each in Slovenia, The Netherlands, Brazil, and India . There were three types of salt reduction interventions evaluated: voluntary reductions (including targets), labeling, and interventions in institutional settings such as hospitals or schools.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All studies involved voluntary reductions, and sodium data were collected from the websites of restaurants. On the other hand, two studies in the United States evaluated the changes in sodium level in meals in institutional settings—one in hospitals and one in schools . Sodium levels were quantified by analyzing the food offerings in the menus.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Science of Salt: A global review on changes in sodium levels in foods

Santos

Sparks

Thout

et al. 2019

J of Clinical Hypertension

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This review aims to summarize and synthesize studies reporting on changes in sodium levels in packaged food products, restaurant foods, and hospital or school meals, as a result of salt reduction interventions. Studies were extracted from those published in the Science of Salt Weekly between June 2013 and February 2018. Twenty‐four studies were identified: 17 assessed the changes in packaged foods, four in restaurant foods, two in hospital or school meals, and one in both packaged and restaurant foods. Three types of interventions were evaluated as part of the studies: voluntary reductions (including targets), labeling, and interventions in institutional settings. Decreases in sodium were observed in all studies (n = 8) that included the same packaged foods matched at two time points, and in the studies carried out in hospitals and schools. However, there was little to no change in mean sodium levels in restaurant foods. The pooled analysis of change in sodium levels in packaged foods showed a decrease in sodium in unmatched food products (−36 mg/100 g, 95% CI −51 to −20 mg/100 g) and in five food categories—breakfast cereals, breads, processed meats, crisps and snacks, and soups. Twenty‐two of the 24 studies were from high‐income countries, limiting the applicability of the findings to lower resource settings.

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Evaluating Changes to Sodium Content in School Meals at a Large, Urban School District in Los Angeles County, California

Cited by 10 publications

References 10 publications

Reducing the Intake of Sodium in Community Settings: Evaluation of Year One Activities in the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, Arkansas, 2016–2017

Reducing the Intake of Sodium in Community Settings: Evaluation of Year One Activities in the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, Arkansas, 2016–2017

Student receptivity to new school meal offerings: Assessing fruit and vegetable waste among middle school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District

The Science of Salt: A global review on changes in sodium levels in foods

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