Nutritional quality of the school‐day diet in Irish children (5–12 years)
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AbstractBackgroundThe European Commission has identified schools as a priority setting for health promotion, including nutrition education and intervention. The present study examined the school‐day diet of Irish primary‐school children with the aim of identifying opportunities for dietary improvement.MethodsData from The National Children's Food Survey (2003–2004) were used to establish a dataset of school‐days. Dietary intake data were collected from 594 children (5–12 years) using a 7‐day weighed food‐record. The nutritional quality of the diet was examined for the total school‐day and for food eaten ‘before school’, ‘at school’ and ‘after school’.ResultsExamination of dietary intake on school‐days has highlighted nutritional imbalances for intakes of fat, saturated fat, added sugars, sodium and dietary fibre (DF). Mean energy (E) intake for the overall school‐day was 7.1 MJ, with 16% of energy provided from food eaten ‘before school’, 33%E from food eaten ‘at school’ and 53% of energy from food eaten ‘after school’. Relative to the overall school‐day, food eaten ‘before school’ was lower in saturated fat and sodium, and higher in DF and many micronutrients. Food eaten ‘at school’ was relatively high in added sugars and sodium; lower in DF and micronutrients; and similar in saturated fat compared to the overall school‐day. Food eaten ‘after school’ was relatively high in DF and vitamin A; similar in saturated fat, magnesium and sodium; and lower in added sugars and other micronutrients compared to the overall school‐day.ConclusionsTo improve the overall nutritional quality of the school‐day diet, food eaten at school should be targeted.
