School dinner kids healthier than packed lunch kids, UK

Featured Article
Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 06 Oct 2005 - 18:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Researchers from St George's University of London examined the eating habits of one thousand secondary schoolchildren in England and Wales and came to the conclusion that school dinners offer better nutritional value than most packed lunches.

The researchers said the nutritional problem may be more in the home than at school.

You can read about this study in The British Medical Journal.

Last week the UK Government said 'junk' food will be banned in all schools.

In order to see how healthy the children were, the researchers also checked their:

-- Height
-- Weight
-- Waist size
-- Hip size
-- Skinfold thickness
-- Percentage of body fat
-- Blood pressure
-- Blood sugar levels
-- Cholesterol levels
-- Folate levels

They found that, on average, those on school dinners (as opposed to packed lunches) had lower levels of blood cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin and leptin. The researchers adjusted for social class, puberty status and how much physical activity the kids did, and still found the school dinner kids were healthier.

The weakness they found with school dinner eaters was in their levels of folate - it was lower. The researchers said folate levels in school dinners should be increased.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

• Additional
• References
• Citations