(Press-News.org) BOSTON -- Open a child's lunch box and you're likely to find that the lunches and snacks inside fall short of federal guidelines. Those are the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. The findings are published online ahead of print in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Led by senior author Jeanne Goldberg, Ph.D., R.D., a professor at the Friedman School, the study is among the first to examine what children bring to school for lunch and snack. The researchers used digital photography to document the lunches and snacks of more than 600 Massachusetts third and fourth graders in 12 schools in six public school districts. Goldberg and colleagues compared students' lunch and snack items to federal National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and Child and Adult Food Care Program (CAFCP) standards, respectively. They found that only 27% of the lunches met at least three of the five NSLP standards, and only 4% of snacks met at least two of the four CAFCP standards, both of which emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low- or non-fat dairy.
The findings highlight the challenges associated with packing healthful items to send to school. "When deciding what to pack, parents are juggling time, cost, convenience, and what is acceptable to their children. Unfortunately, these factors are not always in harmony with good nutrition," Goldberg said.
"Lunches were comprised more of packaged foods than anything else," Goldberg said. "Almost a quarter of the lunches lacked what would be considered an entrée, such as a sandwich or leftovers, and were instead made up of a variety of packaged snack foods and desserts."
"The few existing studies on packed lunches report that children who bring their lunch tend to consume fewer fruits and vegetables, less fiber and more total calories than those who participate in the National School Lunch Program," Goldberg said. "Given that over 40% of U.S. schoolchildren bring their lunches to school on a given day, it's important to consider how nutrition experts and policymakers could help parents meet the challenges of cost, convenience, and child preference and add nutrition to the equation."
The researchers also found considerable room for improvement in school snacks. Goldberg and colleagues found that a typical snack consisted of one or more sugar-sweetened beverages paired with a packaged snack food or dessert.
"Few studies have evaluated snacks from home and our data suggest that classroom-based snacking presents another opportunity for kids to eat and drink high calorie and nutrient-poor foods and beverages," said corresponding author Kristie Hubbard, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., a research associate at the Friedman School.
"Although water was slightly more common than sugar-sweetened beverages at lunchtime, we saw many children with two or three sugary drinks in their lunchboxes," said Hubbard. "Replacing sugary drinks with water – the drink recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics - keeps children hydrated without adding extra sugar to their diet."
The current study evaluated one day's worth of lunches and snacks in 12 schools. Goldberg and colleagues acknowledge the need for larger studies of more diverse groups of students over an extended period of time.
This study points to the need to help parents find ways to build nutrition into the packed-lunch routine. The researchers acknowledge that this is a challenge that will require creative approaches to packing lunch boxes with affordable, easy-to-prepare, and healthy options while at the same time creating a demand for these options among children.
INFORMATION:
This research was conducted as part of the GREEN (Growing Right: Eco-Friendly Eating and Nutrition) Project Lunch Box study, which aims to improve the nutritional quality of foods brought from home to school through the creation of a communications campaign that also emphasizes foods that generate minimal trash and waste. The current study is supported by grant R01HD065888 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIHCHD) and by the Boston Obesity Research Center.
Co-authors of the paper are Aviva Must, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine and dean of the public health and professional degree programs, both at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM); Misha Eliasziw, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at TUSM and Sara C. Folta, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Friedman School.
Hubbard KL, Must A, Eliasziw M, Folta SC and Goldberg J. "What's in Children's Backpacks? Foods Brought from Home." Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In press, corrected proof. July 17, 2014. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2014.05.010
The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University is the only independent school of nutrition in the United States. The school's eight degree programs, which focus on questions relating to famine, hunger, poverty, and communications, are renowned for the application of scientific research to national and international policy.
Room for improvement in elementary school children's lunches and snacks from home
2014-07-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Meerkats' sinister side is secret to their success, study shows
2014-07-22
The darker side of meerkats – which sees them prevent their daughters from breeding, and kill their grandchildren – is explained in a new study.
Research into the desert creatures – which live in groups with a dominant breeding pair and many adult helpers – shows that the alpha female can flourish when it maintains the sole right to breed.
The study shows how this way of life, also found in many animals such as ants and bees, can prove effective despite its sinister side.
Dominant meerkats control breeding within their group through violence, by banishing any other ...
NUS scientists use low cost technique to improve properties and functions of nanomaterials
2014-07-22
The challenges faced by researchers in modifying properties of nanomaterials for application in devices may be addressed by a simple technique, thanks to recent innovative studies conducted by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Through the use of a simple, efficient and low cost technique involving a focused laser beam, two NUS research teams, led by Professor Sow Chorng Haur from the Department of Physics at the NUS Faculty of Science, demonstrated that the properties of two different types of materials can be controlled and modified, and consequently, ...
Children's impulsive behaviour is related to their brain connectivity
2014-07-22
Researchers from the University of Murcia have studied the changes in the brain that are associated with impulsiveness, a personality trait that causes difficulties in inhibiting a response in the face of a stimulus and leads to unplanned actions without considering the negative consequences. These patterns can serve as an indicator for predicting the risk of behavioural problems.
A new study headed by researchers from the University of Murcia analyses whether the connectivity of an infant's brain is related to children's impulsiveness.
"Impulsiveness is a risk factor ...
Rigid connections: Molecular basis of age-related memory loss explained
2014-07-22
From telephone numbers to foreign vocabulary, our brains hold a seemingly endless supply of information. However, as we are getting older, our ability to learn and remember new things declines. A team of scientists around Associate Prof Dr Antonio Del Sol Mesa from the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine of the University of Luxembourg and Dr Ronald van Kesteren of the VU University Amsterdam have identified the molecular mechanisms of this cognitive decline using latest high-throughput proteomics and statistical methods. The results were published this week in the ...
New water balance calculation for the Dead Sea
2014-07-22
This news release is available in French.
Tel Aviv/Halle, Saale. The drinking water resources on the eastern, Jordanian side of the Dead Sea could decline severe as a result of climate change than those on the western, Israeli and Palestinian side. This is the conclusion reached by an international team of researchers that calculated the water flows around the Dead Sea. The natural replenishment rate of groundwater will reduce dramatically in the future if precipitation lowers as predicted, say the scientists, writing in the journal Science of the Total Environment. ...
Novel methods may help stem cells survive transplantation into damaged tissues
2014-07-22
New Rochelle, NY -- Stem cells offer much promise for treating damaged organs and tissues, but with current transplantation approaches stem cell survival is poor, limiting their effectiveness. New methods are being developed and tested to improve the survival and optimize their therapeutic function after transplantation, as described in a Review article in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the BioResearch Open Access website.
In the article 'Preconditioning Stem Cells for In Vivo ...
Study compares cost-effectiveness of weight-loss programs and drugs
2014-07-22
DURHAM, N.C. – In a cost-effectiveness analysis of commercial diet programs and pills, the Weight Watchers program and the drug Qsymia showed the best value for the money. The Jenny Craig regimen generated the greatest weight loss, but was also the most expensive option tested, according to researchers at Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School.
The findings, published in the June issue of the journal Obesity, provide important information on the health and weight-loss benefits per dollar spent as insurance carriers consider coverage for weight ...
The nostalgia effect: Do consumers spend more when thinking about the past?
2014-07-22
Say you are out clothes shopping and you spot something that brings you back to a special time from your childhood when you were surrounded by friends and family. Suddenly, you find yourself purchasing an expensive shirt that makes you feel like a kid again. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, we're more likely to spend money when we're feeling nostalgic.
"We wondered why nostalgia is so commonplace in marketing. One reason could be that feeling nostalgic weakens a person's desire for money. In other words, someone might be more likely to buy ...
Trying to get kids to eat healthier? Don't tell them veggies are good for them
2014-07-22
At some point, most kids will hear that drinking milk helps make their bones strong or that fish is food for the brain. But do these messages foster the idea that if something is good for us, it must surely taste bad? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when children hear about the benefits of healthy food, they're less likely to eat it.
"We predicted that when food is presented to children as making them strong or as a tool to achieve a goal such as learning how to read or count, they would conclude the food is not as tasty and therefore consume ...
You deserve it! Are consumers more likely to buy unique products when made to feel special?
2014-07-22
Graduating from college is an important life event often attributed to being smart and working hard. Many people celebrate this milestone achievement by buying themselves an expensive gift or taking a dream vacation. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that consumers who attribute their successes to internal character traits rather than hard work are more likely to select unique products.
"We found that consumers who attribute feelings of pride to their unique character traits—rather than how hard they worked to accomplish something—are more likely to ...