Objective Assess impact of school lunch environmental factors on fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in second and third grade students. Design Cross‐sectional observations in 1 school year. Participants Students from… Click to show full abstract
Objective Assess impact of school lunch environmental factors on fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in second and third grade students. Design Cross‐sectional observations in 1 school year. Participants Students from 14 elementary schools in 4 New York City boroughs (n = 877 student‐tray observations). Main Outcome Measure(s) Dependent variables were F&V consumption collected by visual observation. Independent variables included school lunch environmental factors, and individual‐level and school‐level demographics. Analysis Hierarchical linear modeling was used with F&V consumption as the outcome variable, and relevant independent variables included in each model. Results Slicing or precutting of fruits and having lunch after recess were positively associated (P < .05) with .163‐ and .080‐cup higher fruit consumption across all students, respectively. Preplating of vegetables on lunch trays, having 2 or more vegetable options, and having lunch after recess were positively associated (P < .05) with .024‐, .009‐, and .007‐cup higher vegetable consumption across all students, respectively. Conclusions and Implications Although there was a small increase in intake, results of the study support that some school lunch environmental factors affect children's F&V consumption, with some factors leading to more impactful increases than others. Slicing of fruits seems most promising in leading to greater fruit consumption and should be further tested.
               
Click one of the above tabs to view related content.