Study: Students adjusted to new school meals over time
July 21, 2014 | 02:21 PM
Students who saw their school meals get healthier at the beginning of the 2012 to 2013 school year complained at first, but by spring most said they liked them, although there were variations among types of schools, according to an academic survey of school food administrators and staff released today.
The School Nutrition Association immediately discounted it.
Elementary students adjusted better than middle and secondary students, however, and white high school students and rural elementary and middle students continued to complain more about the meals than socio-economically disadvantaged students in urban and suburban schools, according to the study, which is scheduled for publication today in the journal Childhood Obesity.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Michigan State University, and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It consisted of mail surveys sent to 557 public elementary schools, 306 middle schools and 334 high schools.
Yvonne Terry-McElrath
Yvonne Terry-McElrath, the University of Michigan researcher who studied middle and high schools, noted that 90 percent of schools reported they had changed their meals, a figure she said amounted to “sweeping change.” While students resisted the changes at first, Terry-McElrath said, she called it remarkable that “over time the student negative response dropped precipitously.”
“The updated meal standards are a landmark achievement — they make schools healthier places for our nation’s children and are a critical step toward reversing the childhood obesity epidemic and building a culture of health nationwide,” said Tina Kauh, program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“Policymakers at all levels should be encouraged by these findings and should continue to support schools’ efforts to provide students with healthy meals and snacks,” Kauh said.
Julia Bauscher
But Julia Bauscher, president of the School Nutrition Association, which represents school food service directors and the companies that make school foods, said “these reported perceptions about school meals do not reflect reality.”
Noting that Agriculture Department data has shown a decline in participation, Bauscher added, “This decline in participation, experienced across 49 states, has severely impacted school meal program budgets at a time when programs are struggling with the increased cost of preparing meals that meet the new requirements, as well as substantial inflationary increases in the price of the fruits, vegetables and milk required on student lunch trays.”
The study comes out as the Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing on the school meals program on Wednesday as part of an expected reauthorization of child nutrition programs in 2015.
The House and Senate versions of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bills also propose short-term changes to the regulations that the Agriculture Department promulgated under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Those regulations require schools to increase the amount of whole grains and low‐fat dairy, fruits, and vegetables in the meals and set limits for sugars, fats and sodium.
The School Nutrition Association has asked for changes to the healthier meal rules, while a range of nutrition and medical groups have opposed making changes.
About half (56.4 percent) of elementary school food service administrators told the researchers that their students complained about the meals at first, but 70 percent said that by spring the students liked them.
Researchers posed questions differently to the middle and high school administrators. The survey found that 44 percent of middle-level students attended a school in which there were a “great” extent of complaints about the meals initially, but by spring 70 percent of middle school students attended a school in which students liked the meals “to at least some extent” and only 11 percent attended a school in which there were a lot of complaints.
At the high school level, 53 percent of students attended a school in which there were a lot of complaints, but by spring 63 percent attended schools where the students liked the meals and 18 percent attended schools where there were still a substantial number of complaints.
Rural elementary schools were somewhat were more likely to have made changes to the school meals program, and students at those schools also were more likely to complain about the new meals, less likely to be buying school lunch, and less likely to finish eating it compared with the previous year, the study said.
Lindsey Turner
“This is particularly important given the higher rates of childhood obesity in rural areas, as well as an overall reduced life expectancy among rural populations, and a widening rural-urban life expectancy gap,” wrote researchers Lindsey Turner and Frank Chaloupka of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Student complaints were also higher in elementary schools that did not offer “regular, i.e. higher-fat pizza” the survey showed.
Schools with a high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals had students more likely to be partaking in lunch and eating more of the meal than in the previous year, the survey said, although researchers said their study did not cover whether that was related to changes in the foods offered.
The researchers noted that during periods of challenging economic times more socioeconomically disadvantaged students participate in school meals. But the researchers added that due to the high participation, “It is possible that widespread implementation of national policy has been effective for improving the diets of socioeconomically disadvantaged children.”
Turner and Chaloupka concluded that policy makers should make decisions about any changes to the school meals based on data rather than anecdotal stories.
“The updated meals standards are resulting in healthier meals for tens of millions of kids,” said Turner, in a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation news release. “Our studies show that kids are OK with these changes, and that there have not been widespread challenges with kids not buying or eating the meals.”
▪ Childhood Obesity — Perceived Reactions of Elementary School Students to Changes in School Lunches after Implementation of the USDA’s New Meals Standards: Minimal Backlash, but Rural Socioeconomic Disparities Exist
▪ Bridging the Gap Research Brief — Student Reactions During the First Year of Updated School Lunch Nutrition Standards
▪ Bridging the Gap — Research Informing Policies and Practices for Healthy Youth
▪ Youth, Education & Society — First Year of USDA School Lunch Standards: Findings from U.S. Secondary Schools
The School Nutrition Association immediately discounted it.
Elementary students adjusted better than middle and secondary students, however, and white high school students and rural elementary and middle students continued to complain more about the meals than socio-economically disadvantaged students in urban and suburban schools, according to the study, which is scheduled for publication today in the journal Childhood Obesity.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Michigan State University, and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It consisted of mail surveys sent to 557 public elementary schools, 306 middle schools and 334 high schools.
Yvonne Terry-McElrath
Yvonne Terry-McElrath, the University of Michigan researcher who studied middle and high schools, noted that 90 percent of schools reported they had changed their meals, a figure she said amounted to “sweeping change.” While students resisted the changes at first, Terry-McElrath said, she called it remarkable that “over time the student negative response dropped precipitously.”
“The updated meal standards are a landmark achievement — they make schools healthier places for our nation’s children and are a critical step toward reversing the childhood obesity epidemic and building a culture of health nationwide,” said Tina Kauh, program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“Policymakers at all levels should be encouraged by these findings and should continue to support schools’ efforts to provide students with healthy meals and snacks,” Kauh said.
But Julia Bauscher, president of the School Nutrition Association, which represents school food service directors and the companies that make school foods, said “these reported perceptions about school meals do not reflect reality.”
Noting that Agriculture Department data has shown a decline in participation, Bauscher added, “This decline in participation, experienced across 49 states, has severely impacted school meal program budgets at a time when programs are struggling with the increased cost of preparing meals that meet the new requirements, as well as substantial inflationary increases in the price of the fruits, vegetables and milk required on student lunch trays.”
The study comes out as the Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing on the school meals program on Wednesday as part of an expected reauthorization of child nutrition programs in 2015.
The House and Senate versions of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bills also propose short-term changes to the regulations that the Agriculture Department promulgated under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Those regulations require schools to increase the amount of whole grains and low‐fat dairy, fruits, and vegetables in the meals and set limits for sugars, fats and sodium.
The School Nutrition Association has asked for changes to the healthier meal rules, while a range of nutrition and medical groups have opposed making changes.
About half (56.4 percent) of elementary school food service administrators told the researchers that their students complained about the meals at first, but 70 percent said that by spring the students liked them.
Researchers posed questions differently to the middle and high school administrators. The survey found that 44 percent of middle-level students attended a school in which there were a “great” extent of complaints about the meals initially, but by spring 70 percent of middle school students attended a school in which students liked the meals “to at least some extent” and only 11 percent attended a school in which there were a lot of complaints.
At the high school level, 53 percent of students attended a school in which there were a lot of complaints, but by spring 63 percent attended schools where the students liked the meals and 18 percent attended schools where there were still a substantial number of complaints.
Rural elementary schools were somewhat were more likely to have made changes to the school meals program, and students at those schools also were more likely to complain about the new meals, less likely to be buying school lunch, and less likely to finish eating it compared with the previous year, the study said.
Lindsey Turner
“This is particularly important given the higher rates of childhood obesity in rural areas, as well as an overall reduced life expectancy among rural populations, and a widening rural-urban life expectancy gap,” wrote researchers Lindsey Turner and Frank Chaloupka of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Student complaints were also higher in elementary schools that did not offer “regular, i.e. higher-fat pizza” the survey showed.
Schools with a high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals had students more likely to be partaking in lunch and eating more of the meal than in the previous year, the survey said, although researchers said their study did not cover whether that was related to changes in the foods offered.
The researchers noted that during periods of challenging economic times more socioeconomically disadvantaged students participate in school meals. But the researchers added that due to the high participation, “It is possible that widespread implementation of national policy has been effective for improving the diets of socioeconomically disadvantaged children.”
Turner and Chaloupka concluded that policy makers should make decisions about any changes to the school meals based on data rather than anecdotal stories.
“The updated meals standards are resulting in healthier meals for tens of millions of kids,” said Turner, in a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation news release. “Our studies show that kids are OK with these changes, and that there have not been widespread challenges with kids not buying or eating the meals.”
▪ Childhood Obesity — Perceived Reactions of Elementary School Students to Changes in School Lunches after Implementation of the USDA’s New Meals Standards: Minimal Backlash, but Rural Socioeconomic Disparities Exist
▪ Bridging the Gap Research Brief — Student Reactions During the First Year of Updated School Lunch Nutrition Standards
▪ Bridging the Gap — Research Informing Policies and Practices for Healthy Youth
▪ Youth, Education & Society — First Year of USDA School Lunch Standards: Findings from U.S. Secondary Schools
