The Impact of School Socioeconomic Status on Student Lunch Consumption after Implementation of the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy*

Abstract

This study compares the impact of the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy on lunch consumption of low- and middle-income students in sixth through eighth grades. Students in 1 middle socioeconomic status (SES) and 1 low SES school completed lunch food records before (2001/2002) and after (2005/2006) implementation of the Texas policy. Students recorded amount and source of foods/beverages consumed. Two-way analyses of variance with year and school SES as factors were performed to compare consumption by school SES before and after implementation of the Texas policy. Regardless of year, the low SES group consumed less fat, sweetened beverages, and candy and more vitamin C and calcium than the middle SES group. There were more significant improvements in dietary patterns for the middle SES school students post-policy, particularly from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) meal. The middle SES school students reported significantly higher percentages of less healthy items from home post-policy. Overall, low SES school students consumed more healthy lunches at school compared with middle SES school students, and the Texas policy improved middle SES school student dietary intakes. Whether the dietary behaviors in school influence dietary intake for the entire day is unknown.