Background: Nutrition plays a vital role in children's physical and emotional health. More than half of school age children's calories are provided in the school food environment, making school interventions an opportunity to address child nutrition. Methods: The Creating Health Environments for Schools (CHEFS) program is designed to leverage…

Background: Federal law requires water access in schools where meals are served. Schools report high rates of water accessibility in cafeterias, but observations indicate lower adherence. Although observation is costly, it permits a more detailed assessment of a water source to determine whether it provides effective access that encourages water…

Background: The National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs reduce food insecurity and improve dietary intake. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school meals were provided to all children at no cost, regardless of income. This policy is known as Healthy School Meals For All (HSMFA). The purpose of the study was to examine the feasibility of a…

Background: In South Carolina (SC), 42% of youth are overweight or obese. Two sets of modifiable behaviors contributing to obesity are physical activity (PA) and dietary habits. School-based interventions have successfully improved these behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify SC public school personnel perspectives on the most common…

Background: There is a growing interest in low-cost interventions that modify obesogenic environments and encourage positive behavior change. We conducted a systematic review of studies that used behavioral nudges to promote a healthy school cafeteria environment. Methods: A literature search was conducted using 5 databases; of 381 papers noted,…

Background: Research indicates home-packed school lunches are lower in nutritional value compared with school-provided meals. Due to the lack of a school lunch program, most of what Canadian children consume during the school day is determined by parents and caregivers through packed lunches. Despite this, little research has focused on the school…

Background: School lunches must meet National School Lunch Program (NSLP) requirements to receive reimbursement. In this study, we sought to determine whether there are significant differences in nutrient content and nutritional quality between 2 menus meeting NSLP requirements. Methods: A cross-sectional content analysis compared 6 weeks of a…

Background: The study objective was to determine impact of a Farm-to-School intervention on low-income, diverse elementary school students' nutrition-related attitudes, self-efficacy, behaviors, and locally grown vegetable choices. Methods: Six elementary schools within 1 US school district were equally assigned to 1 of 3 conditions--Local…

Background: We assessed the cost-effectiveness and student outcomes related to providing breakfast in the classroom (BIC) setting versus breakfast in the traditional school cafeteria (Cafe). Methods: The sample included 2906 African American and Hispanic students attending urban elementary and middle schools in a city in the Northeastern United…

Background: Breakfast consumption often decreases as youth get older. The School Breakfast Program (SBP) provides an opportunity to intervene and increase breakfast consumption, especially among high school students. Methods: Project breakFAST implemented an expanded breakfast service at 12 high schools. In this longitudinal evaluation, school…

Background: We gathered baseline data about student need of healthy, free school food, and if current school meal programming serves students in need of healthy free school food, in anticipation of the completion of a district-wide kitchen infrastructure and educational farm project in a high-poverty urban school district. Methods: We used mixed…

Background: Some schools are removing flavored milk because of the perception that it negatively impacts children's overall diet. This study assessed the contribution of flavored milk to their diets. Methods: Individual usual intakes (IUI) were calculated from 24-hour dietary recalls of children 2-18 years (N = 20,329) participating in National…

Background: Hennepin County partnered with schools to implement lunchroom strategies to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption. An in-depth evaluation measured changes in consumption following implementation of encouragement strategies including slicing apples and attractive labels. Methods: A pre-post prospective evaluation measured changes in…

Background: Little is known about adolescents' food purchasing behaviors in rural areas. This study examined whether purchasing food at stores/restaurants around schools was related to adolescents' participation in school breakfast programs and overall diet in rural Minnesota. Methods: Breakfast-skippers enrolled in a group-randomized intervention…

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a school-based nutrition program using a cafeteria environment intervention and classroom nutrition education on self-reported fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption, self-efficacy to select FV, and preference for healthy foods. Methods: Using quasi-experimental pre-post design with 3…