scholarly journals Improving the school food environment for the prevention of childhood obesity: What works and what doesn't

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Pineda ◽  
Josefina Bascunan ◽  
Franco Sassi
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
School Food ◽  
What Works ◽  
School Food Environment

scholarly journals Policy driven improvement of the school food environment for the Bulgarian first-graders in the period 2008–2016

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (OCE2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesselka Duleva ◽  
Ekaterina Chikova-Ischener ◽  
Lalka Rangelova ◽  
Plamen Dimitrov
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
First Graders ◽  
Healthy Lifestyles ◽  
School Food ◽  
School Food Environment ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Nationally Representative

AbstractIntroduction:The disbalanced school food environment may be a significant factor contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic observed in the last decades worldwide and in Bulgaria. Policy measures targeting to improve the food and beverage availability at the school premises, to include nutrition education in the school curriculum and to implement initiatives aiming to promote a healthy lifestyle among children and their families, all have the potential to help lowering the prevalence of childhood obesity and improve the well-being and health of the children.The aim of the present study is to assess the policy driven improvement of the school food environment for the Bulgarian first-graders within the period 2008–2016.Materials and methods:Three cross-sectional studies among 7-year-old schoolchildren in Bulgaria were carried out on nationally representative samples of about 3500 children selected from the same sample of primary schools in the years 2008, 2013 and 2016 as part of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI). The present study is based on the data collected through questionnaire on the school environment characteristics.Results:Within the nationally representative sample of schools from 2008 to 2016 there is decrease in the percentage of schools with availability at their premises of salty snacks (from 73.7% to 32.3%), sweet snacks (from 76.5% to 49.7%), cold drinks with sugar (from 68.2% to 10.1%) and fruit juices with sugar (from 69.3% to 8.7%), paralleled by increase in the proportion of schools offering vegetables (from 17.9% to 59.8%) and fresh fruits (from 36.9% to 87.4%). Most of the schools have nutrition education as a separate class or included in the curriculum (92.4% of the schools in 2008 and 91.5% in 2016). There is marked increase in the proportion of schools that have initiatives to promote healthy lifestyles (from 42.4% in 2008 to 68.3% in 2016).Discussion:The legislative and policy measures initiated within the period 2008–2016 have led to significant improvement in the profile of foods and drinks available at the school premises, as well as higher involvement of the schools in initiatives promoting healthy lifestyles. These positive changes in the school food environment have probably important role for the trend for plateauing in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among 7-year-old schoolchildren observed within the same study.

scholarly journals Comparative risk assessment of school food environment policies and childhood diets, childhood obesity, and future cardiometabolic mortality in the United States

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. e0200378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine L. Rosettie ◽  
Renata Micha ◽  
Frederick Cudhea ◽  
Jose L. Peñalvo ◽  
Martin O’Flaherty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Risk Assessment ◽  
School Food ◽  
Comparative Risk ◽  
School Food Environment

Food procurement in English-language Canadian public schools: Opportunities and challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-99
Author(s):  
Shawna Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
English Language ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Food Environments ◽  
School Food ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
School Food Environment

This paper examines the changes to procurement for school food environments in Canada as a response to changes to nutrition regulations at the provincial level. Interviews with those working in school food environments across Canada revealed how changes to the nutrition requirements of foods and beverages sold in schools presented opportunities to not only improve the nutrient content of the items made available in school food environments, but also to include local producers and/or school gardens in procuring for the school food environment. At the same time, some schools struggle to procure nutritionally compliant foods due to increased costs associated with transporting produce to rural, remote, or northern communities as well as logistic difficulties like spoilage. Although the nutrition regulations have facilitated improvements to food environments in some schools, others require more support to improve the overall nutritional quality of the foods and beverages available to students at school.

The effect of changes to the school food environment on eating behaviours and/or body weight in children: A systematic review

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Driessen ◽  
Adrian J. Cameron ◽  
Lukar E. Thornton ◽  
Samuel K. Lai ◽  
Lisa M. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Body Weight ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Eating Behaviours ◽  
School Food ◽  
School Food Environment

Creating the Scratch Cooked School Food Framework: Qualitative Data Analysis of a Scratch Cooking Pilot

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483992110389
Author(s):  
Deeana Ijaz Ahmed ◽  
Raynika Trent ◽  
Pamela Koch
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Food System ◽  
System Structure ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
School Food ◽  
Intervention Level ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
School Food Environment

The purpose of this study is to develop a novel framework that outlines the system required to implement scratch cooking in school kitchens. The data used in this study were 57 interviews with key stakeholders during the Return to Scratch Cooking Pilot that occurred in two New York City school kitchens in 2018–2019 and made significant modifications to many aspects of the existing school food system. The guiding framework for the data analysis was Meadows’s Intervention Level Framework. Intervention Level Framework describes analyzing systems by examining five layers: (1) paradigm shift, (2) goals, (3) system structure (4) feedback and delays, and (5) structural elements. It also provides a framework for describing a system by defining its elements, interconnections, and purpose. Data analysis revealed four elements of the school food system: ingredients and recipes, kitchen, cooking, and the community. The interconnections that played a role in each of these elements were policies, practice, people, and promotion. Together, these four elements and four interconnections comprise the Scratch Cooked School Food framework, which has the purpose of being a tool for researchers and practitioners to utilize when planning, implementing, and evaluating scratch cooking in the school food environment.

scholarly journals School-based intervention that integrates nutrition education and supportive healthy school food environment among Malaysian primary school children: a study protocol

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Choon Huey Teo ◽  
Yit Siew Chin ◽  
Poh Ying Lim ◽  
Shahril Azian Haji Masrom ◽  
Zalilah Mohd Shariff
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
School Children ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Intervention Programme ◽  
School Food ◽  
School Food Environment

Abstract Background Malnutrition among school children may contribute to adverse health consequences such as non-communicable diseases, poor cognitive performance, psychological distress and poor quality of life that may persist into adulthood. In order to prevent childhood malnutrition, an intervention programme that integrates nutrition education and healthy school food environment is needed to provide nutrition information and reinforce the skills on healthy eating behaviours in schools. This paper describes a study protocol of a school-based intervention programme that integrates nutrition education and healthy school food environment, namely School Nutrition Programme (SNP). The SNP is a primary prevention programme that promotes healthy lifestyle among primary school children in light of the high prevalence of malnutrition in Malaysian children. Methods/design This quasi-experimental study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SNP between intervention and comparison groups before and after the SNP, and after a 3-month follow-up. The SNP consisted of two main components, whereby three nutrition education sessions were implemented by trained teachers using three standardised modules, and healthy school food environment was implemented by the canteen food handlers with the provision of healthy menu to children during school recess times. Children from intervention group participated in the SNP, in addition to the standard Physical and Health Curriculum. The comparison group attended only the standardised Physical and Health Curriculum and the school canteen food handlers were reminded to follow the standard canteen guidelines from the Ministry of Education Malaysia. The assessment parameters in evaluating the effectiveness of the programme were knowledge, attitude and practice on nutrition, eating behaviours, physical activity, body composition, psychological distress, cognitive performance and health-related quality of life. Assessments were conducted at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Discussion It was hypothesised that the SNP would be effective in promoting healthy lifestyle among school children, and further contributes in preventing malnutrition problem, enhancing cognitive performance and improving health-related quality of life among school children. Findings of the present study can be expanded to other schools in future on ways to improve nutrition education and healthy school food environment. Trial registration UMIN Clinical Trial Registration UMIN000032914 (Date of registration: 7th June 2018, retrospectively registered). Protocol version 16th September 2019 & Version 4

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