Dataset Information

Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending school-based nurseries: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To nutritionally analyse lunches provided for 3-4-year-old children attending school nurseries. Energy and nutrient content are compared with nutrient frameworks underpinning voluntary guidelines for early years settings (EYS) and mandatory standards for infant schools (4-7-year-olds).

Design

A cross-sectional study, recording all main meals, vegetarian meals, jacket potato options, sandwich options and all desserts and accompaniments provided over 5 consecutive days in each school. Two portions of each meal were collected each day and weighed. Recipe and portion weight data were entered into nutrient analysis software.

Setting

School nurseries where lunch was provided by the school.

Subjects

Nine schools, providing a total of 161 meals.

Results

Lunches contained more energy (1881 kJ/450 kcal), fat (15·5 g), free sugars (10·5 g) and Na (424 mg) than suggested by the nutrient framework for EYS. Carbohydrate (60·6 g), protein (16·8 g), fibre (6·7 g), Fe (2·4 mg), Zn (2·0 mg), Ca (202 mg), vitamin A (304 µg) and vitamin C (19 mg) also exceeded minimum recommendations. Compared with a revised nutrient framework for infant schools, energy was within range, whilst saturated fat, free sugars and Na were above maximum recommendations for this age group, and Zn was below. Sandwich meals were lower in vitamin C (P < 0·001-P = 0·05) and Fe (P = 0·012-P = 0·017) and higher in Na (P < 0·001-P = 0·003) and Ca (P < 0·001-P = 0·05).

Conclusion

Lunches provided for children attending school nurseries are more in line with the framework for 4-7-year-olds. Free sugars, saturated fat and Na are areas of concern consistent with previous studies. Protein is three times more than recommended. Large portions of cakes and biscuits contribute to excess energy provision.

SUBMITTER: Wall CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10755416 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending school-based nurseries: a cross-sectional study.

Wall Claire J CJ Pearce Jo J

Public health nutrition 20231103 12

<h4>Objective</h4>To nutritionally analyse lunches provided for 3-4-year-old children attending school nurseries. Energy and nutrient content are compared with nutrient frameworks underpinning voluntary guidelines for early years settings (EYS) and mandatory standards for infant schools (4-7-year-olds).<h4>Design</h4>A cross-sectional study, recording all main meals, vegetarian meals, jacket potato options, sandwich options and all desserts and accompaniments provided over 5 consecutive days in ...[more]

PMID: 37921199

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Project description:PurposeSchools and organized sports both offer great chances to promote physical activity among children. Full-day schools particularly allow for extensive participation in extra-curricular physical activities. However, due to time reasons, full-day schools may also prevent children from engagement in organized sports outside school. There is only little national and international research addressing the possible competition of full-day schools and providers of organized sports outside school and the potential effects on children's physical activity behavior. In Germany's educational system, a transformation towards more full-day schools is currently taking place. The existence of both, half-day and full-day schools, gave occasion to the following research question: Do students attending half-day and full-day school differ with respect to a) sports club membership rate and b) weekly amount of sports club training?MethodsData were collected in eleven German primary schools. Selected schools offered both half-day and full-day (minimum three days/week with at least seven hours) care. 372 students' data (grades 1-4; N = 153 half-day, N = 219 full-day; 47.4% male, 8.8±1.2y) were eligible for analyses. We assessed sports club membership and weekly training duration via questionnaire. Statistical analyses included Chi-square and Mann-Whitney-U-Tests.Results83% of half-day school students and 67% of full-day school students were sports club members (χ2(1) = 12.31, p<.001). Weekly duration of training in sports clubs among sports club members (N = 266) also differed between the groups (mdn = 150 min in half-day, mdn = 120 min in full-day school students; z = -2.37, p = .018). Additional analyses stratified for age and gender showed similar results.ConclusionPrimary school students attending full-day schools engage less in organized sports outside school than half-day school students, regardless of age and gender. Future studies should examine if the detected lower engagement in sports club physical activity is compensated by physical activities in other settings such as school or non-organized leisure time.

Project description:BackgroundSnacking raises concern since it may lead to an additional energy intake and poor nutrient quality. A snacking occasion can be defined as any eating occasion apart from main meals, regardless of the amount or type of foods consumed. We described the frequency of snacking occasions according to daily timing in French adults, and compared them between each other, and with the main meals, in terms of energy intake, energy and nutrient density, and food content.MethodsThis cross-sectional analysis included 104,265 adults from the NutriNet-Santé cohort. Food intake was estimated using 24-h records of weekdays. For each eating occasion, nutrient density and energy content and density were computed.ResultsAfter weighting, 47.6% of our sample were men and mean age was 45.6 (15.3). Overall, 68% of participants ate at least one snack during the reported record, mainly in the morning or afternoon. Overall snack had a lower nutrient density [22.8 (SD = 278.3)] than main meals [25.8 (36.9) to 30.0 (30.4)]; but higher energy density [222.2 (163.3) kcal/100 g] than meals [133.9 (57.3) to 175.9 (99.6) kcal/100 g]. Morning snack was the snacking occasion with the lowest energy density [211 kcal/100 g], the lowest energy intake [104.1 kcal] and the highest nutrient density [60.1]. Afternoon and evening snacks had the highest energy loads [192.4 kcal and 207.6 kcal], but low nutrient scores [16 and 13, respectively]. The main food groups contributing to energy intake from snacks were fatty-sweet and sugary foods, fruit, hot beverages, and bread.ConclusionsOur findings highlight the frequency of snacking and the varying nutritional quality of snacks over the day. The morning snack was shown to be healthier than afternoon and evening snacks.Trial registrationThis study was conducted according to guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki, and all procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the French Institute for Health and Medical Research (IRB Inserm No. 0000388FWA00005831) and the French Data Protection Authority (Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés No. 908450 and No. 909216). Electronic informed consent was obtained from all participants (Clinical Trial no. NCT03335644 ).

Dataset Information

Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending school-based nurseries: a cross-sectional study.

Objective

Design

Setting

Subjects

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending school-based nurseries: a cross-sectional study.

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