What are the key food groups to target for preventing obesity and improving nutrition in schools?

Objective: To determine differences in the contribution of foods and beverages to energy consumed in and out of school, and to compare consumption patterns between school canteen users and noncanteen users. Design: Cross-sectional National Nutrition Survey, 1995. Setting: Australia. Subjects on school days: A total of 1656 children aged 5 - 15 y who had weekday 24-h dietary recall data. Results: An average of 37% of total energy intake was consumed at school. Energy-dense foods and beverages such as fat spreads, packaged snacks, biscuits and fruit/cordial drinks made a greater contribution to energy intake at school compared to out of school (Pless than or equal to0.01). Fast foods and soft drinks contributed 11 and 3% of total energy intake; however, these food groups were mostly consumed out of school. Fruit intake was low and consumption was greater in school. In all, 14% of children purchased food from the canteen and they obtained more energy from fast food, packaged snacks, desserts, milk and confectionary (Pless than or equal to0.05) than noncanteen users. Conclusions: Energy-dense foods and beverages are over-represented in the Australian school environment. To help prevent obesity and improve nutrition in schools, biscuits, snack bars and fruit/cordial drinks brought from home and fast food, packaged snacks, and confectionary sold at canteens should be replaced with fruit and water.