Are Students Throwing Away Nutrition?

Abstract

The School Breakfast Program (SBP) began in 1966 in order to provide breakfast for children in poor areas and for those who had to travel a great distance to school. Although participation in the SBP has doubled between 1987 and 1997, it is unclear whether children are consuming a well-balanced breakfast. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students in a rural Missouri elementary school were eating the complete SBP meal and thereby obtaining adequate nutrition. The subjects were grades K-2 students who received the SBP meal over three days during one week in February 2001. Researchers observed which meal items were “not taken/not eaten” and noted the information on a Meal Pattern Tally Form for each student. Overall, it seemed that the students in this study consistently did not eat approximately 10% of their milk and grain/meat main menu items, nor about 40% of their fruit/vegetable servings. Consistently, more females than males did not eat the minimum servings of all food items over the 3-day period. Implications are discussed.