Competitive Foods in Schools: Availability and Purchasing in Predominately Rural Small and Large High Schools

• Published in: Journal of the American Dietetic Association Vol. 109; no. 5; pp. 857 - 864
• Main Authors: Nollen, Nicole L., PhD, Befort, Christie, PhD, Davis, Ann McGrath, PhD, Snow, Tricia, MPH, Mahnken, Jonathan, PhD, Hou, Qingjiang, MS, Story, Mary, PhD, Ahluwalia, Jasjit S., MD, MPH, MS
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Maryland Heights, MO Elsevier Inc 01.05.2009; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; adolescent nutrition; Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology; adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Disease prevention; eating habits; eating out; energy content; Energy Intake - physiology; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food; Food - standards; Food Analysis; food and nutrition programs; food availability; food choices; Food Dispensers, Automatic - statistics & numerical data; Food Dispensers, Automatic - utilization; food purchasing; Food Services - statistics & numerical data; food serving methods; Food Supply - standards; Food Supply - statistics & numerical data; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastroenterology and Hepatology; high school students; Humans; Internal Medicine; Kansas; Male; Nutrition; nutritional adequacy; Nutritive Value; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - etiology; observational studies; Population Density; Rural areas; Rural Population; school food service; school meals; Schools; Secondary schools; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Kansas; United States > US; Availability; Metabolic diseases; School; Rural environment; School environment; Food
• ISSN: 0002-8223; 2212-2672; 1878-3570; 2212-2680
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jada.2009.02.013

Abstract Objectives Schools have an important role to play in obesity prevention, but little is known about the food environment in small, predominately rural schools. The primary purpose of this study was to compare the availability and student purchasing of foods sold outside of the reimbursable meals program through à la carte or vending (ie, competitive foods) in small (n=7) and large (n=6) Kansas high schools. Methods A cross-sectional observational study design was used to capture the number of à la carte and vending items available and purchased, and the fat and energy content of all available and purchased items on a single school day between January and May 2005. Results Small schools had significantly fewer vending machines than large schools (median 3.0 [range 2.0 to 5.0] vs 6.5 [range 4.0 to 8.0], P <0.01]. Vending and à la carte items at small schools contained a median of 2.3 fewer fat grams per item ( P ≤0.05), whereas vending products contained a median of 25 kcal fewer per item ( P ≤0.05) than at large schools. Significantly less fat (median −15.4 g/student) and less energy (median −306.8 kcal/student) were purchased per student from all competitive food sources and from à la carte (median −12.9 g fat and −323.3 kcal/student) by students in small schools compared to students in large schools ( P ≤0.05). Conclusions The findings, which highlight less availability and lower energy content from competitive foods at small compared to large schools, have implications for understanding how small schools support their foodservice programs with limited dependence on competitive foods and the influence that food and nutrition professionals can have on school environments by providing more oversight into the nutritional quality of foods available.