Healthiest meals for children come from schools, study says

Apr. 16—School meals have come a long way in recent years, to the point a new study found foods consumed in schools now have the highest nutritional quality for children.

The Journal of the American Medical Association released the study Monday looking at dietary trends over a 15-year period in the U.S. Between 2003 and 2018, the percentage of poor nutritional quality food consumed at schools declined from 55% to 24%, the biggest improvement among the major food sources.

Grocery stores and restaurants had modest to small improvements compared to the more significant nutritional jump in schools, according to the JAMA study.

Much of the improvement in schools came after the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act passed in 2010. Championed by then-first lady Michelle Obama, the law set new nutrition standards for school meals, from offering students more fruits and vegetables every day to providing more whole grains.

Because of the law change, the report's findings on improved school nutrition didn't surprise Darcy Stueber, director of the food services department at Mankato Area Public Schools.

"With that act, schools made some dramatic changes in what we're serving students," she said.

White rice and regular pasta gave way to more brown rice and whole-grain pasta, while fruits and vegetables brought the color dietitians love to see to student plates. More lean proteins came in, as well as low-fat dairy products and decreased sugar content.

Mankato Area Public Schools' 53 food service workers serve about 7,500 meals to students on a usual school day, with breakfasts and lunches free to students under an extended waiver granted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From about when the pandemic started on March 15, 2020, to Feb. 25, 2021 — the date secondary students were back learning in person — the district served about 1 million meals.

The availability of school meals could help explain why the nutritional improvements in schools were far more equitable compared to outside food sources.

"Of importance, these findings also document that improvements were equitable by age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental educational level, and household income, contrasting with persistent or increasing disparities in diet quality from other food sources," the researchers wrote.

One discouraging finding from the study is how the healthier meals offered in schools don't account for a large percentage of calories consumed by children. School lunches, breakfasts and snacks made up only 9% of the obtained calories.

About two-thirds of calories came from grocery stores. Another 20% came from restaurants.

Although Mankato schools provide nutrition curricula, they can only do so much in encouraging students to eat healthy at home and elsewhere in the community. But healthier foods are usually more expensive, Stueber said, and the less healthy options are often easier to access.

"We're such a busy society that I think any not-as-healthy choices made outside of school are done because of time restrictions and convenience," she said.

The study notes the COVID-19 pandemic is shifting more food purchases toward grocery stores, which researchers wrote should lend itself to retailers trying "new approaches to positively guide consumer choices."

Adding to the challenge, they wrote about how the pandemic created short-term disruptions in sources of food for children. Locally, Stueber said certain products including fruits and vegetables have been harder to get during the pandemic.

"The market has gotten better, but we're still seeing where we're shorted on products," she said. "We just make the best adjustments we can."

The delivery of meals is also different during the pandemic. When distance learning was in full swing, for instance, districts packed and distributed meals.

Back in person, salad bars haven't been open for students to serve themselves. Students instead pick what they want and have it served to them.

"COVID-19 has really turned us on our head if you will," Stueber said. "It has been difficult because when we have students in school we have to serve differently."

Research on how the pandemic changed food consumption in the U.S. is still needed, as the JAMA study looked at a time frame before COVID-19 upended the country. How dietary trends evolve after the pandemic, the authors concluded, will be ripe for further investigation.

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola