Abstract
Background
There are currently no national standards for school lunch period length and little
is known about the association between the amount of time students have to eat and
school food selection and consumption.
Objective
Our aim was to examine plate-waste measurements from students in the control arm of
the Modifying Eating and Lifestyles at School study (2011 to 2012 school year) to
determine the association between amount of time to eat and school meal selection
and consumption.
Design
We used a prospective study design using up to six repeated measures among students
during the school year.
Participants/setting
One thousand and one students in grades 3 to 8 attending six participating elementary
and middle schools in an urban, low-income school district where lunch period lengths
varied from 20 to 30 minutes were included.
Main outcome measures
School food selection and consumption were collected using plate-waste methodology.
Statistical analyses performed
Logistic regression and mixed-model analysis of variance was used to examine food
selection and consumption.
Results
Compared with meal-component selection when students had at least 25 minutes to eat,
students were significantly less likely to select a fruit (44% vs 57%; P<0.0001) when they had <20 minutes to eat. There were no significant differences in
entrée, milk, or vegetable selections. Among those who selected a meal component,
students with <20 minutes to eat consumed 13% less of their entrée (P<0.0001), 10% less of their milk (P<0.0001), and 12% less of their vegetable (P<0.0001) compared with students who had at least 25 minutes to eat.
Conclusions
During the school year, a substantial number of students had insufficient time to
eat, which was associated with significantly decreased entrée, milk, and vegetable
consumption compared with students who had more time to eat. School policies that
encourage lunches with at least 25 minutes of seated time might reduce food waste
and improve dietary intake.
Keywords
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Biography
J. F. W. Cohen is an assistant professor, Department of Health Sciences, Merrimack College, North Andover, MA, and an adjunct assistant professor, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Biography
J. L. Jahn is a master’s degree student, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Biography
S. Richardson is director of research and strategic initiatives, Project Bread, Boston, MA.
Biography
S. A. Cluggish is senior advisor, Project Bread, Boston, MA.
Biography
E. Parker is executive director, Project Bread, Boston, MA.
Biography
E. B. Rimm is a professor of epidemiology and nutrition, Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 11, 2015
Accepted:
July 24,
2015
Received:
April 16,
2015
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This study was funded by a grant from Arbella Insurance. J. F. W. Cohen is supported by the Nutritional Epidemiology of Cancer Education and Career Development Program (R25 CA 098566).
Supplementary materials: Podcast available at www.andjrnl.org/content/podcast/
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
