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 Researchers compared how much and what types of foods 1,000 students
in grades 3 to 8 selected and how much they ate based on the length
of their lunch periods, checking in six times during the 2011-2012
school year at one urban, low-income school district. Lunch periods
typically lasted from 20 to 30 minutes.
Students were significantly less likely to grab a piece of fruit if
they had less than 20 minutes to eat, compared with kids who got at
least 25 minutes for lunch. Children with less time were also less
likely to finish their entree, vegetable or milk.
“They likely would have consumed more of their vegetables, milk and
entrees if they had more time to eat,” lead author Juliana Cohen, a
researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in
Boston, said by email. “If they are eating less of these foods on a
daily basis throughout the school year, this can have important
health implications for the students.”
When students had at least 25 minutes to eat, 57 percent of them
took some fruit to eat, compared with 44 percent of their peers who
had less than 20 minutes, Cohen and colleagues report in the Journal
of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that students "should be
allowed at least 20 minutes of actual eating time for lunch," with
the clock starting only when they're seated with their meals.
In the current study, compared to kids with more time, the students
who had less than 20 minutes also consumed 13 percent less of their
entrée, 12 percent less vegetables, and 10 percent less milk.
One fix to this problem might be as simple as changing what happens
right after lunch, said Gregory Madden, a psychology professor at
Utah State University who wasn’t involved in the study.
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When children have recess immediately after lunch, they may be
inclined to rush through their meal and eat as little as possible to
get to the playground sooner, Madden said by email. Students may
also spend much of their lunch period planning games for recess
rather than eating their food.
But if all they have to look forward to after lunch is a return to
the classroom, they may be more inclined to linger in the cafeteria,
Madden said.
One risk of rushing kids through lunch is that they may fill up on
junk, fast food and sweets when they get hungry later in the day,
Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at New York University's Center for
Musculoskeletal Care and Sports Performance who wasn't involved in
the study, said by email.
“Experts believe that when students are given an adequate amount of
time for lunch, they will be more likely to try healthy options and
make healthy food choices which down the road may lower the risk for
obesity and other chronic diseases,” said Heller.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Jc6SNH Journal of the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics, online September 11, 2015.
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