A new study found that students who are given less than 20 minutes to eat their school lunches are consuming less fruits, vegetables and milk than those who are given more time.
As HNGN previously reported, the CDC says that school lunches have gotten healthier but wondered why most of the fruits and vegetables end up in the garbage. Researchers at the University of Vermont have found that a lot of children are wasting foods, throwing away (on average) about half a cup of fruit and vegetables during each meal. The CDC's recommendation is to pre-portion the meals.
But a new study conducted by researchers from Merrimack College in Massachusetts, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Boston-based non-profit organization called Project Bread, has a new idea: longer school lunch.
The researchers looked at 1,001 students in six elementary and middle schools who were given 20 to 30 minutes of lunch time. They looked at the students' food choices and what are left on their plates at the end of the lunch period. They then compared it to the lunch period length.
The analysis showed that students who were given only 20 minutes to take their lunch ate 13 percent less of their entrées, 12 percent less of their vegetables and 10 percent less of their milk compared to those who were given 25 minutes. There was no significant difference on food choices, but there was more food thrown in the garbage on the 20-minute group.
"We were surprised by some of the results because I expected that with less time children may quickly eat their entrée and drink their milk but throw away all of their fruits and vegetables," Eric Rimm, senior study author and a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Chan School, said in a university news release. "Not so - we found they got a start on everything, but couldn't come close to finishing with less time to eat."
The researchers recommend for the schools to extend the lunch period or develop strategies that can shorten the waiting time in the serving lines. They observed that the average time to get food and find a seat is 10 minutes, thus making the actual eating time even shorter.
The study was published in the Sept. 11 issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
