School Lunches Unhealthy, Study Finds

by Becky Ham, Health Behavior News Service

School breakfasts, "a la carte" dining items such as pizza and baked goods, and chips and candy sold at student-run stores also contributed to "excessive" fat consumption by students, say UC/San Diego researcher James F. Sallis and colleagues.

Students eat about a third of their meals at school, and should therefore get about a third of their daily allowance of fat. Instead, the study found that school cafeteria lunches are supplying half of the recommended levels of fat.

Sallis and colleagues investigated the food environment at two dozen middle schools in San Diego County. Their analysis revealed that cafeteria lunches contained an average of about 31 grams of fat.

Bag lunches, however, had an average of about 21 grams of fat, almost exactly the amount that studies have recommended for a student.

"To our surprise, bag lunches were relatively low in fat. So it does look like kids are choosing wisely when they pack their lunch," adds study co-author Michelle Zive of the University of California San Diego.

The researchers also noted an association between a la carte service and the average socioeconomic status of a school's population. In wealthier schools, students bought more a la carte items than in poorer schools. Poorer schools, however, tended to stock more high-fat items than wealthy schools.

The researchers suggest that schools should introduce lower fat versions of popular foods, reduce the price of low-fat items, introduce more low-fat eating options and creatively market low-fat foods to students to bring down overall fat consumption.

The study appears in a recent issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.