School food offerings and 7th-grade student dietary consumption in low-income Michigan middle schools

The school food environment can provide opportunities for students to develop healthful eating patterns early in life. Students may obtain foods and beverages from a variety of venues at school, and the healthfulness of offerings at these venues or the combination of offerings among venues can affect students' food and nutrient consumption. Principals from 30 low-income middle schools in Michigan participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research Program-funded School Nutrition Advances Kids (SNAK) project completed the School Environment and Policy Survey, which gathered information on the availability of foods and beverages in venues throughout their school. A food/beverage scale was created for each venue based on the number of unhealthy (e.g. candy) and healthy (e.g. vegetables) choices available, and scores were compared among venues. Information on dietary behaviors was collected from 7th grade students at each school using the Block Kids Food Frequency Questionnaire. Associations between food/beverage scale score and 7th-grade students' dietary intake will be determined. Comparison of the food/beverage scores indicated that the a la carte venue provided significantly more healthy items than all other venues. School events provided significantly more unhealthy options than healthy options. This study demonstrated a significant variation among the healthfulness of food/beverage offerings in school venues, and describes the association of the offerings in these venues with student dietary intake. Providing middle school students with more healthy options and fewer unhealthy options in various school venues may improve students' dietary intake.