Paper of the Month: Food choice, plate waste and nutrient intake of US school students

Elementary and middle school students, eating school lunch, do not frequently select vegetables and waste considerably more fruits and vegetables than the entrée or milk, a new study, published in Public Health Nutrition, from Colorado State University (CSU) shows. Plate waste was assessed for a 5-day period in each of three Northern Colorado elementary schools and two middle schools to determine what foods students were choosing for lunch and what foods they were wasting. We also compared the students’ average nutrient intake from lunch with the recently implemented and stronger standards mandated by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010. A total of 535 elementary-school students and 364 middle-school students participated in the plate waste assessment. Approximately half the students were male and half were female. We found students were much less likely to choose vegetables with their lunch and even when they did, they wasted 30-50%. Additionally, while students selected fruit more often, they also wasted as much 50% of the fruit they took. As a result, few students’ lunch consumption met the new HHFKA standards. Due to the relatively low intake of vegetables, intakes of vitamins A and C were of particular concern. Missing nutrients All US school lunches are required to meet the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans and planned to ensure students receive at least one-third of their daily nutrient needs at lunch. However, if students do not choose and/or eat t...
Source: The Nutrition Society - Category: Nutrition Authors: Source Type: news