Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America.
Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 16;18(2):e0281448. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281448. eCollection 2023.
School cafeterias are a major point of influence for child nutrition. United States federal legislation requires the presence of important nutrients in school meals. However, legislation overlooks the potential presence of hyper-palatable foods in school lunches, a hypothesized factor that may influence children's eating behavior and obesity risk. The study sought to 1) quantify the prevalence of hyper-palatable foods (HPF) served in US elementary school lunches; and 2) determine whether food hyper-palatability varied based on school geographic region (East/Central/West), urbanicity (urban/micropolitan/rural), or meal item (entrée/side/fruit or vegetable).
Lunch menu data (N = 18 menus; N = 1160 total foods) were collected from a sample of six states that represented geographic regions of the United States (Eastern/Central/Western; Northern/Southern) and that had variability in urbanicity (urban, micropolitan, and rural) within each state. A standardized definition from Fazzino et al (2019) was used to identify HPF in lunch menus.
HPF comprised almost half of foods in school lunches (M = 47%; SD = 5%). Compared to fruit/vegetable items, entrées were >23 times more likely to be hyper-palatable and side dishes were >13 times more likely to be hyper-palatable (p values < .001). Geographic region and urbanicity were not significantly associated with food item hyper-palatability (p values >.05). The majority of entrée and side items contained meat/meat alternatives and/or grains and likely aligned with the US federal reimbursable meal components of meat/meat alternatives and/or grains.
HPF comprised almost half of foods offered in elementary school lunches. Entrées and side items were most likely to be hyper-palatable. US school lunches may be a key point of regular exposure to HPF among young children, a risk factor that may elevate child obesity risk. Public policy regulating HPF in school meals may be needed to protect children's health.
学校食堂是影响儿童营养的主要因素之一。美国联邦立法要求学校餐食中应含有重要营养成分。然而，立法忽略了学校午餐中可能存在高感官吸引力食物的潜在情况，这被认为是可能影响儿童饮食行为和肥胖风险的一个因素。本研究旨在：1）量化美国小学午餐中提供的高感官吸引力食物（HPF）的流行程度；2）确定食物的高感官吸引力是否因学校地理位置（东部/中部/西部）、城市化程度（城市/大都市/农村）或餐食项目（主菜/配菜/水果或蔬菜）而有所不同。
从六个州收集午餐菜单数据（N=18 个菜单；N=1160 种总食物），这些州代表了美国的地理区域（东部/中部/西部；北部/南部），并且每个州的城市化程度（城市、大都市和农村）各不相同。使用 Fazzino 等人（2019 年）的标准化定义来识别午餐菜单中的 HPF。
HPF 占学校午餐中食物的近一半（M=47%；SD=5%）。与水果/蔬菜项目相比，主菜成为高感官吸引力食物的可能性超过 23 倍，配菜成为高感官吸引力食物的可能性超过 13 倍（p 值均<0.001）。地理位置和城市化程度与食物项目的高感官吸引力没有显著关联（p 值均>0.05）。大多数主菜和配菜都含有肉类/肉类替代品和/或谷物，可能与美国联邦可报销餐食中肉类/肉类替代品和/或谷物的组成部分相符。
HPF 占小学午餐中提供的食物的近一半。主菜和配菜最有可能成为高感官吸引力食物。美国学校午餐可能是幼儿经常接触高感官吸引力食物的一个重要点，这是一个可能增加儿童肥胖风险的危险因素。为了保护儿童健康，可能需要制定监管学校餐食中 HPF 的公共政策。
