Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012 Jun;112(6):927-33. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2012.01.015. Epub 2012 Apr 13.
School cafeterias can play an important role in providing healthy meals. Although schools participating in the National School Lunch Program are required to meet minimum program standards, advocates recommend that innovations be sought to enhance menu dietary quality. This study evaluated the Chef Initiative, a 2-year pilot study in two Boston middle schools, designed to increase the availability and consumption of healthier school foods. Between 2007 and 2009, a professional chef trained cafeteria staff to prepare healthier school lunches (ie, more whole grains, fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables, and less sugar, salt, saturated fats, and trans fats). Meal nutrient compositions were monitored from 2007 to 2009, and a plate waste study conducted in the spring of 2009 compared food selection and consumption patterns among students at Chef Initiative schools, with students receiving standard school lunches at two matched control schools. Paired t tests and descriptive statistics were used to examine differences in menus and mixed-model analysis of variance was used to analyze differences in students' food selection and consumption between Chef Initiative and control schools. Overall, the Chef Initiative schools provided healthier lunches and the percent of foods consumed at Chef Initiative and control schools were similar (61.6% vs 57.3%; P=0.63). Of the areas targeted, there was greater whole-grain selection and vegetable consumption; 51% more students selected whole grains (P=0.02) and students consumed 0.36 more vegetable servings/day (P=0.01) at Chef Initiative schools. The potential of chefs collaborating with cafeteria staff to improve the availability, selection, and consumption of healthier meals is promising.
学校食堂可以在提供健康餐方面发挥重要作用。虽然参与国家学校午餐计划的学校需要满足最低计划标准，但提倡者建议寻求创新以提高菜单饮食质量。本研究评估了厨师倡议，这是在波士顿两所中学进行的为期两年的试点研究，旨在增加更健康的学校食品的供应和消费。在 2007 年至 2009 年期间，一名专业厨师培训食堂工作人员准备更健康的学校午餐（即更多的全谷物、新鲜/冷冻水果和蔬菜，以及更少的糖、盐、饱和脂肪和反式脂肪）。从 2007 年到 2009 年监测了膳食的营养成分，并在 2009 年春季进行了餐盘浪费研究，比较了厨师倡议学校和两所匹配对照学校学生的食物选择和消费模式。使用配对 t 检验和描述性统计分析来检查菜单之间的差异，使用混合模型方差分析来分析厨师倡议学校和对照学校学生食物选择和消费之间的差异。总体而言，厨师倡议学校提供了更健康的午餐，且厨师倡议学校和对照学校消耗的食物百分比相似（61.6%与 57.3%；P=0.63）。在所针对的领域中，全谷物选择和蔬菜消费更多；选择全谷物的学生增加了 51%（P=0.02），且厨师倡议学校的学生每天多消耗 0.36 份蔬菜（P=0.01）。厨师与食堂工作人员合作提高更健康餐食的供应、选择和消费的潜力是有希望的。
