Impact of a Nutrition-Related Community Intervention on the Quantity and Quality of Children's School almuerzo

Foods and beverages that schoolchildren carry in their lunchboxes have high energy values but lack plain water, fresh fruits and vegetables. A nutrition-related community intervention on the quantity and quality of school almuerzo was performed, in which four primary schools participated, as part of two groups: 225 children in the intervention group (IG) and 177 children in the control group (CG). The parents from the IG had access to a website where they could consult information on eating habits and physical activity or school almuerzo menus. They were sent weekly text messages on their mobile phones and attended in-person sessions. Anthropometric measurements and surveys were performed in both groups at the start of the study, as well as after 6 and 12 months. The school almuerzo was assessed by recording foods that the children brought in their lunchboxes. At baseline, 88% of children brought a school almuerzo, 37% fruit, 17% vegetables, 40% plain water and 50% sweet drinks. In both groups, 50% of children brought a school almuerzo with an energy value above the recommended value (>340 kcal) during follow-up; however, the percentage of children who brought sweet drinks decreased (p < 0.05), with sweet drinks contributing between 26% and 33% of the calories in the school almuerzo. In the IG, the quantity in milliliters of plain water increased at the end of the follow-up period (p = 0.044). From the point of view of food-and-beverage quantity and quality, school almuerzo were unhealthy for both groups. The intervention failed to increase the frequency with which parents provided children with school almuerzo or enhance the quality of the latter.

Automated summary

The study found that school lunches have high energy values but lack plain water, fruits, and vegetables. Parental intervention did not increase the frequency of students bringing lunch or improve the quality of the meals.