184256 School food offerings and 7th-grade student dietary consumption in low-income Michigan middle schools

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 4:45 PM

Katherine Alaimo, PhD , Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Richard Miles, MS , Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Jennifer Mosack, BS , Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Nick Drzal, MPH, RD , Michigan Department of Education, Lansing, MI
Shannon Carney, MS, RD , Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, MI
Diane Golzynski, PhD, RD , Cardiovascular Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity Section, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, MI
Deb Bailey, MS , Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Deanne Kelleher, MS, RD, CDE , Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
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.

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand how a food and beverage availability scale can be used to assess the number of healthy and unhealthy offerings in school venues. 2. Compare food and beverage offerings between various school venues. 3. Articulate the relationship between food and beverage offerings and student dietary intake.

Keywords: Youth, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: PI for SNAK Project
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.