Department of Public Health and Nutrition, Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike Street, North Andover, MA 01845, USA.
Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Nutrients. 2020 Sep 30;12(10):3003. doi: 10.3390/nu12103003.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act strengthened competitive food standards (i.e., Smart Snacks), but an exemption allows reimbursable meal entrées that do not meet Smart Snack standards to be sold as "competitive entrées" on the same day they are served in the reimbursable meal, and the following day. Proposed rollbacks would enable these competitive entrées to continue to be sold on a third day, increasing the availability of competitive foods exempt from Smart Snacks standards. This study compared the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores of potential competitive entrées alone versus full reimbursable school lunches, and examined the nutritional characteristics of potential competitive entrées. Data were from a national sample of 1108 schools from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study. Linear regression models, accounting for school-level and state and district policy characteristics, found that HEI scores of competitive entrées were an average of 30 points lower than HEI scores of reimbursable lunches, with greater differences in small and rural schools. Less than 1% of common potential competitive entrees met Smart Snack standards, primarily due to higher sodium and saturated fat levels. The proposed rollbacks are estimated to potentially add approximately 662 mg of sodium and 3 g of saturated fat over three days (1103 mg sodium and 5 g saturated fat over a week) on average relative to Smart Snacks limits. Instead of increasing opportunities to sell competitive entrées, their sales should be further limited.
《健康，无饥饿儿童法案》加强了竞争食品标准（即“智能零食”），但一项豁免允许报销餐的正餐不符合智能零食标准，作为“竞争餐”在同一天提供，并在第二天提供。拟议的撤销将使这些竞争餐能够在第三天继续销售，从而增加了不受智能零食标准限制的竞争食品的供应。本研究比较了潜在竞争餐的单独健康饮食指数（HEI）得分与全报销学校午餐，检查了潜在竞争餐的营养特征。数据来自学校营养和膳食成本研究的全国 1108 所学校的样本。线性回归模型，考虑到学校层面以及州和地区政策特征，发现竞争餐的 HEI 得分比报销午餐的 HEI 得分平均低 30 分，在规模较小和农村学校差异更大。不到 1%的常见潜在竞争餐符合智能零食标准，主要是因为钠和饱和脂肪含量较高。据估计，与智能零食限制相比，拟议的撤销可能会在三天内平均增加约 662 毫克钠和 3 克饱和脂肪（一周内增加 1103 毫克钠和 5 克饱和脂肪）。与其增加销售竞争餐的机会，不如进一步限制其销售。
