By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by Agata Kowalewska, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
When you were a kid, did you buy or bring lunch? I remember doing both, though the choices I made when buying “lunch” in high school make me cringe today as a mom. I’m sure my parents didn’t know I was getting by on French fries, pizza, chocolate chip cookies, and the occasional salad. Back then, I would definitely have been better off “bringing” rather than buying.
However, times have changed quite a bit since the late ‘80s. Today’s school lunches are required to meet numerous new standards regarding fat content, whole grains, fruit and vegetable servings, and more. As a matter of fact, a new study suggests that if you think kids who bring lunch from home are eating healthier than those who stand in the lunch line, you might be way off track.
School Lunch and Bag Lunch, Side by Side
In the study, researchers assessed school lunches from the School Lunch program (not including a la carte items) and packed lunches of children in public pre-K and kindergarten programs at three schools in rural Virginia. The items served in the more than 1300 lunches analyzed were carefully noted, and nutritional analysis was done to compare calorie count, fat, sugar, and salt content, and some vitamins and minerals in the lunches, among other things.
School Lunch Wins out on Nutrition
On almost all measures, school lunches came out nutritionally ahead of lunches brought from home. They had less fat and less saturated fat, more fiber, more vitamin A, more calcium, and less sugar. Packed lunches did have less sodium and more iron and vitamin C. But most of the vitamin C seemed to come from fortified sugary beverages, not fruits and veggies. In fact, 40% of home lunches contained sugary drinks– versus none of the school lunches! Far more home lunches also featured desserts and salty snacks, and far fewer included fruits and vegetables.
Some Things to Consider
There are several important things to keep in mind when looking at these findings. First of all, the study only looked at what children took from the lunch line or what was given—not what they actually ate! So, for instance, some of the fruits and vegetables in the school lunches likely ended up in the trash.
Second, it’s of note that packed lunches were of higher nutritional quality in wealthier schools. Parents with more resources may be better able to afford nutritious lunches or have more awareness of the issue.
Finally, the students in the study were quite young and concentrated in one area of the country. Results might be different for different ages and in different areas.
Take a Look at What You Serve
Still, these findings are likely to surprise at least some parents, who may assume that their home-packed meals offer better choices than what is served at school.
In fact, other research finds that parents’ decision as to whether or not to have their children buy school lunch is related to whether or not they think the food is healthful. These results suggest that it may be time for a new look at what’s on offer at the school cafeteria, as well as a bit more thought about what goes into that lunch bag or box.
(Image credit: School lunch staff and students enjoy the new school lunch menu created to meet the new standards at the Yorkshire Elementary School in Manassas, VA on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. USDA photo by Lance Cheung at US Department of Agriculture by US Department of Agriculture. CC license.)
References:
Farris, A. R., et al. (2014). Nutritional Comparison of Packed and School Lunches in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Children Following the Implementation of the 2012–2013 National School Lunch Program Standards. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 46(6), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2014.07.007
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