Abstract
Vegetables are important sources of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals in the diets of children. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National School Lunch Program has new requirements for weekly servings of vegetable subgroups as well as beans and peas. This study estimated the cost impact of meeting the USDA requirements using 2008 national prices for 98 vegetables, fresh, frozen, and canned. Food costs were calculated per 100 grams, per 100 calories, and per edible cup. Rank 6 score, a nutrient density measure was based on six nutrients: dietary fiber; potassium; magnesium; and vitamins A, C, and K. Individual nutrient costs were measured as the monetary cost of 10% daily value of each nutrient per cup equivalent. ANOVAs with post hoc tests showed that beans and starchy vegetables, including white potatoes, were cheaper per 100 calories than were dark-green and deep-yellow vegetables. Fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables had similar nutrient profiles and provided comparable nutritional value. However, less than half (n = 46) of the 98 vegetables listed by the USDA were were consumed >5 times by children and adolescents in the 2003–4 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database. For the more frequently consumed vegetables, potatoes and beans were the lowest-cost sources of potassium and fiber. These new metrics of affordable nutrition can help food service and health professionals identify those vegetable subgroups in the school lunch that provide the best nutritional value per penny.
Highlights
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) [1] have emphasized how important vegetables are to a healthy diet
In the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ChooseMyPlate application, half of the recommended plate is composed of vegetables and fruit [2]
In the present analyses we developed a new metric of nutrients per unit cost
Summary
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) [1] have emphasized how important vegetables are to a healthy diet. Eating a wide variety of vegetables is a good way to improve dietary nutrient density, without consuming excess calories [1]. In the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ChooseMyPlate application, half of the recommended plate is composed of vegetables and fruit [2]. Frozen, and canned products are allowed to make up the 5-cup weekly total [3]. This recommendation, intended to capitalize on the nutrient content of different vegetables, comes at a price since some vegetables are significantly more expensive than others [4,5,6]. School food services would benefit from knowing which vegetables are both acceptable and provide the most nutrients per unit cost
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