Nutritional Improvements and Student Food Choices in a School Lunch Program

doi:10.1111/j.1745-6606.2007.00081.x

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Wiley InterScience

Journal of Consumer Affairs

Volume 41 Issue 2, Pages 265 - 284

Published Online: 14 Sep 2007

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Nutritional Improvements and Student Food Choices in a School Lunch Program

CORBETT GRAINGER ¹ , BENJAMIN SENAUER ² , C. FORD RUNGE ³

¹ Corbett Grainger was an MS student in the Department of Applied Economics when this work was completed (grainger@econ.ucsb.edu). He is currently a PhD student in economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA. ²Benjamin Senauer is a professor in the Department of Applied Economics and co-director of The Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (bsenauer@umn.edu). ³C. Ford Runge is Distinguished McKnight University Professor of applied economics and law, and director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (frunge@umn.edu).

This research was supported by a grant from the McKnight Foundation. The authors thank Bertrand Weber and Michele Wignal for their assistance. They were the director and dietician for the Hopkins School Food Service at the time of this study.

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed data on students' food purchases linked to their school records to examine factors affecting the healthiness of their food choices and the impacts of reforms to promote healthier eating in a high school lunch program. U.S. Department of Agriculture's Healthy Eating Index was used to evaluate the nutritional quality of the foods purchased, as well as an alterative ranking developed by the school dietitian. The new lunch program was associated with an improvement in the nutritional quality of students' food choices. Girls tended to purchase relatively healthier food than boys, but male students had a greater improvement in the healthiness of their food choices.

Received: 22 July 2007; Accepted: 04 September 2007;

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1745-6606.2007.00081.x About DOI