School Nutrition Environment Research Articles

Competitive foods available in Pennsylvania public high schools

Competitive foods available in Pennsylvania public high schools

The Role of the School Nutrition Environment for Promoting the Health of Young Adolescents

While there is a growing emphasis on increasing middle grades students' achievement, nutrition has long been recognized for its impact on student success. What is really going on nutritionally at the middle level that is affecting the well being of students? To help answer this question, school superintendents and principals were asked to describe the practices they observed on a daily basis. Though some exceptional practices were found, overall the picture painted by the participants was bleak. Participants confirmed the students' frequent consumption of foods such as pizza, chicken Do the items this student selected reflect healthy options made available to her? PHOTO BY DOUG MARTIN

Measuring the 'obesogenic' food environment in New Zealand primary schools.

Childhood obesity is an increasing health problem in New Zealand and many other countries. Information is needed to guide interventions that reduce the 'obesogenic' (obesity-promoting) elements of school environments. The aim of this study was to identify and measure the obesogenic elements of the school environment and the canteen sales of energy-dense foods and drinks. A self-completion questionnaire was developed for assessing each school's nutrition environment and mailed to a stratified random sample of New Zealand schools. The responses from primary schools (n = 200, response rate 61%) were analysed. Only 15.5% of schools had purpose-built canteen facilities and over half ran a food service for profit (31% profit to the school, 24.5% profit for the contractors). Only 16.5% of schools had a food policy, although 91% of those rated the policy as effective or very effective. The most commonly available foods for sale were pies (79%), juice (57%) and sausage rolls (54.5%). Filled rolls were the most expensive item (mean dollars 1.79) and fruit the least expensive (mean dollars 0.47). The ratio of 'less healthy' to 'more healthy' main choices was 5.6:1, for snacks it was 9.3:1 and for drinks it was 1.4:1. In contrast, approximately 60% of respondents said that nutrition was a priority for the school. Only 50% felt there was management support for healthy food choices and only 39% agreed that mainly nutritious food was offered by the food service. 'Less healthy' choices dominated food sales by more than 2:1, with pies being the top selling item (>55000 per week). We found that the food environment was not conducive to healthy food choices for the children at New Zealand schools and that this was reflected in the high sales of relatively unhealthy foods from the school food services. Programmes that improve school food through policies, availability, prices and school ethos are urgently needed.

Trading nutrition for education: nutritional status and the sale of snack foods in an eastern Kentucky school.

Overweight and poor nutrition of children in the United States are becoming issues of increasing concern for public health. Dietary patterns of U.S. children indicate they are consuming too few fruits and vegetables and too many foods high in fat and sugar. Contributing to this pattern of food consumption is snacking, which is reported to be on the increase among adults and children alike. One place where snacking is under increased scrutiny, and where it is being increasingly criticized, is in U.S. schools, where snack foods are often sold to supplement inadequate budgets. This article takes a biocultural approach to understanding the nutritional status of elementary school children in a rural community in eastern Kentucky. It pays particular attention to the ways in which the school's nutrition environment shapes overweight and nutritional status for many of the children, focusing on the sale of snack foods and the reasons behind the principal's decision to sell snack foods in the school.

School Foodservice Administratorsʼ Perceptions of the School Nutrition Environment in Middle Grades

School Foodservice Administratorsʼ Perceptions of the School Nutrition Environment in Middle Grades

Teachers' perceptions of the school nutritionenvironment in the middle grades

Teachers' perceptions of the school nutritionenvironment in the middle grades

A Practical, Theory-Based Approach to Establishing School Nutrition Advisory Councils

This article describes a process for establishing school nutrition advisory councils (SNACs) as an integral part of a school environment approach to promoting the nutritional health of students. The application of social cognitive theory as the conceptual framework for SNACs is discussed and the steps for establishing councils, including describing the school food environment, recruiting council members and convening the council, are reviewed. Actions taken by SNACs to positively affect the school nutrition environment are also described. SNACs are 1 component of the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS) study, a group randomized, school-based intervention trial conducted in 16 middle schools in the Minneapolis-St Paul, Minn, metropolitan area. TEENS seeks to promote healthful dietary behaviors among young adolescents to reduce future cancer risk. Primary outcome measures include increasing fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing fat consumption. SNACs were established in the intervention schools to assess the overall school food environment and to advance school-level policy that promotes a healthful food environment. J Am Diet Assoc. 2001;101:223-228.