In the fight against the childhood obesity epidemic, to what extent should teachers press home the healthy eating message?
Many classroom teachers will have a fair idea of what their students bring in for lunch. From the child whose mother hand delivers fast food and soft drink, to the dentists' dream who only seems to eat lollies from the canteen, there will be students that stand out as nutritionally disadvantaged.
But how common are these students? Just how unhealthy is the average school lunchbox when compared to canteen food? A study of 1681 children in south-western Victorian schools sought answers.
The Deakin University research team found that bread was the most frequently consumed food, contributing 20 per cent of total energy intake at school. Bread was followed by:
- Biscuits(13%);
- Fruit (10%);
- Muesli/fruit bars (8%);
- Packaged snacks (7%);
- Fruit juice/cordial (6%)
One in ten children obtained their meals from the school canteen. These children were at immediate disadvantage, obtaining more total energy and a greater percentage of their energy intake from cakes, fast foods and soft drink, compared to children consuming lunches brought from home.
On the good news front, 68 per cent of children had fruit in their lunchboxes but more than 90 per cent had "energy-dense, micronutrient-poor" snacks.
The researchers stated that "fruit intake in primary schools seems reasonably high but could be targeted for further increase as part of promoting a healthy diet. Of concern, however, are the excessive amounts of energy-dense foods in school lunchboxes.
"These should be considered a priority for health promotion efforts along with reducing the consumption of sweetened drinks. These measures are urgently needed to improve the school-based diets of Australian children and attempt to curb the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity."
As to whether it's up to teachers to police lunchboxes is another question. If students learn the two serves of fruit and five of vegetables a day message, perhaps they'll nag their parents to provide healthier lunches.
Maybe there are other ways schools can show leadership. Fruit bowls in classrooms and healthy lunchbox recipes in school newsletters are simple initiatives that could have great results.
- Tim Pegler is the editor of www.fitness2live.com.au
Reference:
Sanigorski AM, Bell AC, Kremer PJ, Swinburn BA. Lunchbox contents of Australian school children: room for improvement. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005 Nov;59(11):1310-6.
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