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. 2021 Nov 17;13(11):4113.
doi: 10.3390/nu13114113.

School-Based Nutrition Interventions in Children Aged 6 to 18 Years: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews

Kate M O'Brien  1   2   3   4   5 , Courtney Barnes  1   2   3   4 , Serene Yoong  1   2   3   4   5   6 , Elizabeth Campbell  1   2   3   4 , Rebecca Wyse  1   2   4 , Tessa Delaney  1   2   3   4 , Alison Brown  1   2   3   5 , Fiona Stacey  2   3   4 , Lynda Davies  3 , Sasha Lorien  1   2   3   4   5 , Rebecca K Hodder  1   2   3   4   5
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School-Based Nutrition Interventions in Children Aged 6 to 18 Years: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews

Kate M O'Brien et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Schools are identified as a key setting to influence children's and adolescents' healthy eating. This umbrella review synthesised evidence from systematic reviews of school-based nutrition interventions designed to improve dietary intake outcomes in children aged 6 to 18 years. We undertook a systematic search of six electronic databases and grey literature to identify relevant reviews of randomized controlled trials. The review findings were categorised for synthesis by intervention type according to the World Health Organisation Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework domains: nutrition education; food environment; all three HPS framework domains; or other (not aligned to HPS framework domain). Thirteen systematic reviews were included. Overall, the findings suggest that school-based nutrition interventions, including nutrition education, food environment, those based on all three domains of the HPS framework, and eHealth interventions, can have a positive effect on some dietary outcomes, including fruit, fruit and vegetables combined, and fat intake. These results should be interpreted with caution, however, as the quality of the reviews was poor. Though these results support continued public health investment in school-based nutrition interventions to improve child dietary intake, the limitations of this umbrella review also highlight the need for a comprehensive and high quality systematic review of primary studies.

Keywords: adolescent; child; dietary intake; intervention; nutrition; school-based; umbrella review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the synthesis, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA diagram of the flow of included studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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