September 2009 Changes to secondary school food provision and dining room environments increase the intakes of key nutrients and improve compliance with nutrient based standards.
The Trust looked at the impact of changes to food provision and dining room environments on the food choices and nutrient intakes of secondary school children participating in a study of school lunch and behaviour.
Compliance of school food provision with food based standards for school foods was notably better in the intervention than in the control schools. Additionally, over the course of the study, there was a trend towards better compliance in the control schools which demonstrates continued progress towards improving the food offered to pupils.
The intakes of key nutrients (Vitamin C, zinc and iron) significantly increased in the intervention group leading to improved compliance with nutrient based standards compared to controls.
Pupils in the intervention group were more likely than children in the control group to comply with the standard for zinc, but less likely to comply with the standard for sodium. This highlights the need to support pupils to make healthy food choices within the context of improved school food provision and to consider the issue of portion sizes of those foods which are not restricted by the standards.
For further information about the study please click here: www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/researchprojects#sl&b
