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Schools offer decreased access to unhealthy beverages
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Student access to sugar-sweetened beverages through competitive venues such as vending machines and snack bars decreased, and the percentage of students who could purchase only doctor-approved beverages increased, according to the AMA.
In a recent report, Lindsey Turner, PhD, and Frank J. Chaloupka, PhD, of the Institute for Health Research and Policy, gathered data on a nationally representative sample of public elementary schools by surveying principals and food service staff from the academic years 2006-2007 to 2010-2011.
Results show that student access to beverages in any competitive venue peaked at 61.3% during the 2008-2009 school year, declining consistently to 54.7% in 2010-2011 (P<.01).The percentage of students who could purchase only Institute of Medicine-approved beverages increased from 10% in 2006-2007 to 21.4% in 2010-2011 (P<.01). Student access to vending machines and the availability of sugar-sweetened beverages anywhere on school grounds decreased steadily since 2006-2007. Access to stores, snack bars and a la carte beverage lines peaked in 2008-2009, and has since decreased. As of 2010-2011, one-third of public elementary students had access to non-approved beverages, and 11.9% had access to sugar-sweetened beverages, down from 17.3% in 2006-2007 (P<.05).
According to a recent study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine,children who drank sugary beverages did not necessarily abandon more nutritious drinks such as milk. Those results were inconsistent with previous findings.
“Children who increased their milk consumption also increased their juice consumption over the 3-year period, indicating that milk and juice are complements, not substitutes, in children’s diets,” study researcher Reena Oza-Frank, PhD, RD, a principal investigator at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told Healio.com. “In other words, children who tend to drink caloric beverages in fifth grade continue to drink caloric beverages in eighth grade, regardless of what those caloric beverages are. It’s important for food and nutrition practitioners to help children and families understand that caloric beverages, even those that are generally healthful, contribute to children’s total calorie intake and must be moderates as a part of a healthy diet.”
Turner and Chaloupka said the decline in student access to unhealthy beverages, vending machines and snack bars indicates a positive change in school nutrition.
“Although there is still progress to be made, the trends are encouraging and show not only that change in the school beverage environment is possible, but that it is already under way,” they wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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