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Policies could limit high-fat, sugary foods in elementary schools
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New study results indicate that district and state policies could curb high-sugar, high-fat food and beverage intake among public school children in the United States.
Previous studies have found that 32.6% of children aged 6 to 11 years were overweight or obese in 2009-2010, according to the literature. To further examine the link between policies in public elementary schools enabling high-fat, high-sugar and/or sodium foods and beverages, researchers conducted an analysis of data collected from elementary school years 2008-2009 to 2010-2011. The survey included 1,814 elementary schools in 957 districts in 45 states for the food analysis and 1,830 elementary schools in 962 districts and 45 states for the beverage analysis.
According to data, sweets were 11.2% less available (32.3% vs. 43.5%) when both the district and state limited sugar content, as compared with no limits on sugar content. Regular-fat baked goods were less available when the state law, alone and combined with district policy, limited fat content, researchers wrote. Regular-fat ice cream also was less available when any policy, including district, state law or both, limited competitive food fat content.
Moreover, sugar-sweetened beverages were 9.5% less available when banned by district policy (3.6% vs. 13.1%), researchers wrote. Similarly, higher-fat milks (2% or whole milk) were less available when not allowed by district policy or state law, resulting in about a 15% reduction in availability with restriction by either jurisdiction.
“Clearly, policies have the potential to change school practices for both foods and beverages, and no one policy strategy alone will improve elementary school competitive food and beverage environments,” researchers wrote. “… More work is still needed because we found no statistical association between policies and availability of soda, candy, or salty snacks.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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