Nutritional quality of children's school lunches: differences according to food source

Taylor, Jennifer; Hernandez, Kimberley; Caiger, Jane Mary; Giberson, Donna; MacLellan, Debbie; Sweeney-Nixon, Marva I.; Veugelers, Paul J.

doi:10.1017/s1368980012000699

Cited by 32 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…24 NSLP participants are more likely to consume milk, fruit, and vegetables during lunch than nonparticipants. 26 Foods brought from home by schoolchildren in Canada 27 and the United Kingdom 28 were found to have lower nutrition quality compared to foods provided by schools. Fewer than 1% of packed lunches met all the food-based standards for school meals in England.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What's in Children’s Backpacks: Foods Brought from Home

Hubbard¹,

Must²,

Eliasziw³

et al. 2014

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

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Forty-one percent of elementary schoolchildren bring lunch to school on any given day. Fortyfive percent bring snacks. Surprisingly, little is known about the foods and beverages they bring. The present cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the GREEN Project Lunch Box Study sought to: (1) characterize foods and beverages brought from home to school by elementary schoolchildren, and (2) compare the quality of packed lunches to National School Lunch Program (NSLP) standards and packed snacks to Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) requirements. Lunches and snacks from 626 elementary schoolchildren were assessed and evaluated using digital photography and a supplemental food checklist. Food and beverage types most likely to be provided for lunch were sandwiches (59%), snackfoods (42%), fruit (34%), desserts (28%), water (28%) and sugar-sweetened beverages (24%). Twenty-seven percent of lunches met at least three of five NSLP standards. At snack, snackfoods (62%), desserts (35%) and sugar-sweetened beverages (35%) were more common than fruits (30%), dairy foods (10%), and vegetables (3%). Only 4% of snacks met two of four CACFP standards. Future research is needed to understand the multiple determinants of food packing behavior, including constraints faced by families. School wellness policies should consider initiatives that work collaboratively with parents to improve the quality of foods brought from home.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What's in Children’s Backpacks: Foods Brought from Home

Hubbard¹,

Must²,

Eliasziw³

et al. 2014

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This approach is similar to the standards set by the United States National School Lunch Program, which uses one-third of the 1989 Recommended Daily Allowances for energy, protein, iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C as minimal nutritional quality criteria for school meals (United States Department of Agriculture 2012). A similar approach has also been used in previous Canadian studies that used one-third of the daily recommended intakes as nutritional criteria for meals consumed at school (Taylor et al 2012;Neilson et al 2017). For the C-HEI, diet quality categories have been previously established (Garriguet 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the United Kingdom, 1 study examining dietary contributions of nutrients from lunch among older adolescents reported relatively lower intakes of vitamin C, folate, calcium, and iron compared with the mean caloric contribution (Prynne et al 2013). In Canada, a limited number of studies from regional, context-specific samples have examined in-school dietary intakes suggesting overall poor dietary practices (Woodruff et al 2010;Taylor et al 2012;Ahmadi et al 2015;Neilson et al 2017), but no study has assessed the dietary contributions from foods eaten at school in relation to whole-day intakes or compared nutrient intake patterns between school and non-school hours.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining school-day dietary intakes among Canadian children

Tugault-Lafleur

Black

Barr

2017

Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab.

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Understanding how dietary intakes vary over the course of the school day can help inform targeted school-based interventions, but little is known about the distribution or determinants of school-day dietary intakes in Canada. This study examined differences between school-hour and non-school-hour dietary intakes and assessed demographic and socioeconomic correlates of school-hour diet quality among Canadian children. Nationally representative data from the Canadian Community Health Survey were analyzed using 24-h dietary recalls falling on school days in 2004 (n = 4827). Differences in nutrient and food-group densities during and outside of school hours and differences in School Heathy Eating Index (School-HEI) scores across sociodemographic characteristics were examined using survey-weighted, linear regression models. Children reported consuming, on average, 746 kcal during school hours (one-third of their daily energy intakes). Vitamins A, D, B 12 , calcium, and dairy products densities were at least 20% lower during school hours compared with non-school hours. Differences in School-HEI scores were poorly explained by sociodemographic factors, although age and province of residence emerged as significant correlates. The school context provides an important opportunity to promote healthy eating, particularly among adolescents who have the poorest school-hour dietary practices. The nutritional profile of foods consumed at school could be potentially improved with increased intake of dairy products, thereby increasing intakes of protein, vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, and magnesium.

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“…In one study, students who reported foods from off‐campus locations had poorer dietary quality compared to children bringing a home‐packed lunch . Conversely, another study reported that nutrient densities for key nutrients of concern (vitamins A, D, B 6 , B 12 , calcium and zinc) were higher in school lunches compared to home‐packed lunches and foods from off‐campus locations . No national study has examined where Canadian children obtain food during school hours, whether lunch‐time food source is associated with differences in dietary intakes and quality during school hours, or whether nutritional implications of school hour choices carry over and influence whole day dietary quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lunch‐time food source is associated with school hour and school day diet quality among Canadian children

Tugault-Lafleur

Black

Barr

2017

J Human Nutrition Diet

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Background: There is limited research on the dietary behaviours of Canadian children at school, including where students obtain food from during school hours or whether lunch-time food source influences diet quality. Methods: Nationally representative cross-sectional data from 24-h dietary recalls were analysed from the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey (n = 4589). Dietary outcomes included school hour and school day dietary intakes and School Healthy Eating Index (S-HEI) scores. Survey-weighted covariate-adjusted linear regression models examined differences in dietary outcomes across lunch-time food source groups. Results: The majority of children (72.8%) reported bringing lunch from home, whereas fewer students obtained lunch from off-campus locations (11.6%), schools (9.6%) or skipped lunch (5.9%). Compared to off-campus lunches, home-packed lunches were significantly higher in fibre, vitamins A, D and C, thiamin, magnesium, iron, grains, vegetables and fruit, but lower in total calories, fat and calories from minimally nutritious foods. Average school hour diet quality required improvement for all age groups, although S-HEI scores did not differ significantly by lunch-time food source among 6-8-year-old children. However, for children age 9-17 years, bringing a home-packed lunch was associated with significantly higher S-HEI scores compared to students obtaining lunch from off-campus locations. After adjusting for age and sex, lunch-time food source was also significantly associated with whole day dietary quality. Conclusions: Although the nutritional quality of off-campus lunches was lower than home-packed lunches, the quality of foods was suboptimal, regardless of food source. Strategies are needed to enhance access to nutritious foods on campus and improve the nutritional quality of packed lunches, which supply the majority of lunch-time foods consumed by Canadian children.

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Nutritional quality of children's school lunches: differences according to food source

Abstract: AbstractObjectiveTo assess the nutritional quality of lunchtime food consumption among elementary-school children on Prince Edward Island according to the source of food consumed (homev. school).DesignStudents completed a lunchtime food record during an in-class … Show more

Cited by 32 publications

References 21 publications

What's in Children’s Backpacks: Foods Brought from Home

What's in Children’s Backpacks: Foods Brought from Home

Examining school-day dietary intakes among Canadian children

Lunch‐time food source is associated with school hour and school day diet quality among Canadian children

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