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Observational Study
. 2014 Nov-Dec;46(6):621-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2014.07.007. Epub 2014 Nov 7.

Nutritional comparison of packed and school lunches in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children following the implementation of the 2012-2013 National School Lunch Program standards

Alisha R Farris  1 , Sarah Misyak  2 , Kiyah J Duffey  2 , George C Davis  3 , Kathy Hosig  4 , Naama Atzaba-Poria  5 , Mary M McFerren  2 , Elena L Serrano  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Nutritional comparison of packed and school lunches in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children following the implementation of the 2012-2013 National School Lunch Program standards

Alisha R Farris et al. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Approximately 40% of children bring a packed lunch to school. Little is known about the quality of these lunches. This study examined the nutritional quality of packed lunches compared with school lunches for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children after the implementation of 2012-2013 National School Lunch Program standards.

Methods: The researchers collected observational data for packed and school lunches from 3 schools in rural Virginia for 5 consecutive school days and analyzed them for macro and micro nutrients.

Results: Of the 1,314 observations collected; 42.8% were packed lunches (n = 562) and 57.2% were school lunches (n = 752). Energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar, vitamin C, and iron were significantly higher whereas protein, sodium, fiber, vitamin A, and calcium were significantly lower for packed lunches than school lunches.

Conclusions and implications: Packed lunches were of less nutritional quality than school lunches. Additional research is needed to explore factors related to choosing packed over school lunches.

Keywords: NSLP; children; nutrition; packed lunch; school lunch.

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