Composition of School Meals in Sweden, Finland, and Iceland: Official Guidelines and Comparison With Practice and Availability (original) (raw)
Related papers
Food & Nutrition Research, 2015
Background: In Sweden, school meals are served free of charge and Swedish law states that school meals must be nutritious. Nevertheless, data on children's energy and nutrient intake from school meals are scarce. Objective: The aim was to describe the contribution of school meals to Swedish children's nutrient and energy intake during weekdays and compare this to the reference values based on the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR), which have been adopted as the official Swedish recommendations. Design: A cross-sectional food consumption survey was performed on 1,840 Swedish children attending Grade 2 (mean age 8.6) and Grade 5 (mean age 11.7). The children's nutrient and energy intake was compared to the reference values based on the NNR. Results: The mean intake from school meals of energy, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and vitamins D and E did not reach the reference values and the intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and sodium exceeded the reference values in both age groups (significant differences, all p 50.001). Additionally, the pupils in Grade 5 did not reach the reference values for folate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, and zinc (significant differences, all p 50.001). Standardized for energy, dietary fiber, PUFA, and vitamins D and E did not reach the reference values, whereas the reference values for SFA and sodium were exceeded in both age groups (significant differences, all p 50.001). Conclusions: The study pointed to some central nutrients in need of improvement as regards school meals in Sweden, namely the quality of fat, dietary fiber, sodium, vitamin D, and iron. Some of these results may be attributed to the children not reporting eating the recommended number of calories, the children omitting some components of the meal, or underreporting, as a consequence of which the reference values for several nutrients were not met.
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 2016
Aims: School lunches are provided free in Sweden, although some children choose not to eat school lunch. The aim of this study was to analyse Swedish children’s total energy and nutrient intakes on weekdays by the frequency of school lunch consumption and to analyse energy and nutrient intakes from school lunches by sex. Factors associated with children’s school lunch habits were also studied. Methods: Children in grades 2 and 5 ( n=1905) completed a food diary (school lunch data available for 1840 children) and the mean energy and nutrient intakes per day and per school lunch were calculated. The children also completed questions on the frequency of school lunch consumption and school lunch habits. Logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with school lunch habits. Results: Children who reported eating school lunch every day had significantly higher energy and absolute nutrient intakes than children reporting eating school lunch less than five times a week, but not ...
Public Health Nutrition, 2020
Objective: School lunches have potential to foster healthy diets in all children, but data on their importance are relatively scarce. The current study aimed to describe the dietary intake from school lunches by sex and school grade, and to assess how the daily intake, school lunch intake and the daily intake provided by lunch differ by sex and parental education. Design: Cross-sectional. All foods and drinks consumed for 1–3 weekdays were self-reported. Energy, absolute and energy-adjusted intakes of nutrients and food groups were calculated per weekday and per school lunch. Mixed-effects linear models assessed sociodemographic differences in dietary intakes. Nutrient and energy density at lunch and during the rest of the day were compared. Setting: Seventy-nine Swedish primary schools. Participants: Pupils in grades 5 and 8 (N 2002), nationally representative. Results: Lunch provided around half of daily vegetable intake and two-thirds of daily fish intake. Nutrient density was hi...
School meals and health : the PROMEAL-study
Food & Nutrition Research, 2016
Opening session 101. Keynote lecture: Diet and genes: personalized nutrition for better health?, Marju Orho-Melander 102. Nils-Georg Asp lecture: 50 years of dietary fibre research and future perspective, Per Åman Clinical Nutrition-Pediatrics 103. Infancy-onset dietary counseling from childhood to early adulthood-the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project, Olli Raitakari 104. To be or not to be exposed-the role of weaning diet in development of allergy, Agnes Wold 105. Infant nutrition and child health-evidence for diet against disease, Inga Thorsdottir Public Health Nutrition-You are what you eat? 106. Can we trust dietary intake data?, Lene F. Andersen 107. Reconciling conflicting evidence from observational studies and randomized controlled trials-exemplified by dietary protein and weight change, Mikkel Z. Ankarfeldt 108. Lean or fit-can exercise and diet modify health-risks of obesity?, Mikael Fogelholm Plenary Session: Vitamin D in perspective 109. Vitamin D status in the Nordic countries in the light of methodological standardization, Rikke Andersen 110. Fortification as a solution for increasing vitamin D status, Christel Lamberg-Allardt 111. Vitamin D and bone health-anything new?, Haakon E. Meyer 112. Benefits gained by improving vitamin D status in relation to overdiagnosis of insufficiency, overtreatment, and potential harms?, Karl Michaëlsson Clinical Nutrition-Disease-related malnutrition 113. Nutrition diagnosis-how dieticians identify and describe patients' nutritional problems using standardized terminology, Elin Lövestam 114. Defining malnutrition-mission or mission impossible?, Ingvar Bosaeus 115. Nutrition and patient safety, Randi J. Tangvik Public Health Nutrition-Mother and Child 116. School meals and health-the PROMEAL-study, Agneta Hörnell 117. Childhood obesity trends in the Nordic countries, Berit L. Heitmann 118. Maternal nutrition and child health, Ingibjorg Gunnarsdottir Plenary Session: The role of fat in health and disease 201. Dietary fatty acids-can you divide them into the good, the bad and the ugly?, Lars I. Hellgren 202. Changes in fat intake and changes in cholesterol over decades-The FINRISK study, Tiina Laatikainen 203. Marine and vegetable sources of fatty acids-future perspective, Ann-Sofie Sandberg Clinical Nutrition-Nutrition in the elderly 204. The obesity paradox, Thorkild I.A. Sørensen 205. The role of nutrition in sarcopenia and frailty, Tommy Cederholm 206. Nutrition in supporting brain health, Merja Suominen Public Health Nutrition-Nutrition & sustainability 207. Healthy nutrition and sustainablility-is there a conflict?, Helle M. Meltzer 208. Consumer understanding of healthy nutrition and sustainability, Elling Bere 209. Green Public Procurement in Denmark: Organic food consumption and healthier diets, Gregers Hummelmose and Nina N. SØrensen Plenary Session: Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2012 revisited 210. NNR 2012 in perspective-what is the future role of nutritional recommendations?, Ambroise Martin 211. Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2012-lessons and future directions, Jessica Ahlin Clinical Nutrition-Fighting obesity in society 212. The role of individual treatment strategies, Ingrid Larsson 213. Environmental prevention and treatment strategies, Knut-Inge Klepp 214. The role of food companies-barriers or facilitaters?, Mette Peetz-Schou Public Health Nutrition-Nutrition for healthy ageing 215. The changing scene of ageing-to become old yesterday, today and tomorrow, Elisabet Rothenberg 216. Nutritional status for healthy ageing, Agnes N. Pedersen 217. Overweight and obesity-the pros and cons of targeting weight reduction in the overweight and obese elderly, Anne M. Beck Clinical Nutrition-Future challenges 301. FODMAP versus gluten sensitivity-do we have clear picture?, Knut E.A. Lundin 302. Nutrition, gut microbiota, and health-where do we stand?, Erika Isolauri 303. Computational models of energy balance, Ola Wallengren 304. Iodine deficiency-a ghost from the past revisiting us, Lisbeth Dahl Public Health Nutrition-Future challenges 305. Exploring eating behavior in a changing society-challenges and opportunities, Eva Roos 306. Biomarkers for dietary intake-where do we stand?-where do we stand?, Rikard Landberg 307. Public health nutrition education, Liv E. Torheim and Bryndís E. Birgisdottir 308. A Nordic Food Composition Database-a potential goal for the future?, Liisa Valsta Plenary Session: Dietary patterns and health-what do we really know? 309. Recent advances in research into a Healthy Nordic dietary pattern, Matti Uusitupa 310. Challenges involved in studying a traditional Sami diet pattern as a determinant of health in modern time, Lena M. Nilsson 311. Nutrients versus dietary patterns in nutrition epidemiology-methodological considerations, Isabel Drake II. Oral presentations Clinical Nutrition-Pediatrics O101: Dairy and fish product intake and plasma phospholipid acids in young children, Nicolai A. Lund-Blix O102: Dietary total antioxidant capacity in early school age and subsequent allergic disease, Anna Bergström Public Health Nutrition-You are what you eat? O103: Dietary habits in adolescence and midlife and risk of breast cancer, Alfheidur Haraldsdottir O104: Dietary intakes and gut microbiota composition in a Swedish population, Louise Brunkwall Clinical Nutrition-Disease-related malnutrition O105: Unsatisfactory knowledge and use of terminology regarding malnutrition, starvation, cachexia, and sarcopenia among dietitians in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, Lies ter Beek O106: Association between weight change and mortality in community living older people followed for up to 14 years: the Hordaland Health Study (HUSK), Teresa R. Haugsgjerd Public Health Nutrition-Mother and Child O107: Iodine intake in pregnancy is associated with neurodevelopment at age 3: results from The Norwegian Birth Cohort Study (MoBa), Marianne H. Abel O108: Effects of a 2-year individualized and family-based lifestyle intervention on physical activity and diet quality in children, Aino-Maija Eloranta Clinical Nutrition-Nutrition in the elderly O201: Milk intake in middle-aged Norwegians and risk of hip fracture: is there an association? A linkage between the Norwegian Counties Study and the NOREPOS hip fracture database, Kristin Holvik O202: Vitamin D does not predict dementia or cognitive impairment-a 20-year follow-up study in community living old men, Erika K.E. Olsson Public Health Nutrition-Nutrition & sustainability O203: Replacing meat with fish in our diet-are there metabolic consequences beyond n-3 fatty acids?, Alastair Ross O204: Risk of myocardial infarction-impact of dietary exposure to persistent organic pollutants and intake of long-chain fish fatty acids: results from population-based prospective cohorts, Agneta Åkesson Clinical Nutrition-Fighting obesity in society 0205: Metabolic outcomes after an 8-week low-calorie-diet in overweight, pre-diabetic individuals: the role of gender in the PREVIEW study, Anne Raben O206: Healthy Nordic diet and obesity: results from a 7-year follow-up in adult Finns, Noora Kanerva Public Health Nutrition-Nutrition for healthy ageing O207: Dairy intake and mortality in Northern Sweden, Gianluca Tognon O208: Adherence to dietary intervention among independently living individuals with elevated risk of dementia: Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), Jenni Lehtisalo III. Poster presentations
European journal of public health, 2014
Sweden provides a free school lunch to every child in the compulsory (9-year) school system. It consists of a hot meal, a salad buffet, bread and a beverage. The Education Act states it must be free of charge (since 1997) and 'nutritious' (since 2011). No standards/limits are specified but voluntary guidelines for serving of the school meal exist. We describe how school meal quality has changed since 2011. A random sample of schools were contacted in spring 2011 and invited to use a novel web-based instrument to evaluate school meal quality. In spring 2013, the participating schools (N = 191) were encouraged to use it again and 97 did. The outcomes were measures of quality including food provision/choice, adherence to serving guidelines and, using validated food-based criteria, nutritional quality. No change was seen in the proportion offering alternative options daily, but a vegetarian option was significantly more widely available in 2013. Adherence to all but one of the s...
Public Health Nutrition, 2011
ObjectiveTo explore how the quality of school lunch consumed reflected overall eating patterns in school-aged children.DesignChildren filled in an Internet-based questionnaire about their eating patterns. The children were then divided into balanced and imbalanced school lunch eaters on the basis of their responses in the questionnaire. A balanced school lunch consisted of, by the definition used in the present study, a main dish, salad and bread.SettingEleven primary schools and one middle school in eastern Finland.SubjectsA total of 531 schoolchildren (247 boys and 284 girls) aged 11–16 years.ResultsThe school lunch was balanced in 46·5 % of children. Eating a balanced school lunch was associated with overall healthier eating patterns outside school. Children who ate a balanced school lunch had more regular meal times and consumed healthier snacks. They ate fruit or berries and vegetables, dairy products and wholegrain foods more often, consumed fewer salty snacks, pizzas, meat pi...
Calculations on the energy and nutrient content of kindergarten menus in Estonia
Food & Nutrition Research, 2003
Objective: To evaluate kindergarten menus in the frame of the National Health Programme for Children in Estonia in order to guarantee optimal food intake for children. Design: Five kindergarten menus were calculated in Tallinn and in a rural area in Estonia from February 1999 to December 2001, including both Russian and Estonian kindergartens with more than 700 children. The study was conducted using a Micro-Nutrica programme, the database with 700 foodstuffs and 900 readyto-eat meals, with 56 characteristics of nutrients. Results: Estonian kindergarten menus provided the recommended amount of food energy. The percentage of energy derived from saturated fatty acids was too high and that from polyunsaturated fatty acids too low. There was an insufficient content of vitamins C and D and dietary fibre in all kindergarten menus, and the content of other micronutrients differed from menu to menu. Conclusions: The energy content of menus on different days should be balanced. There is a need to alter the balance of carbohydrates and fats in favour of increasing starch and lowering saturated fats. Insufficient amount of vitamins C and D in meals should be supplemented by adding casseroles, fruit juices and fish dishes. A correction should be made in favour of calcium and iron, and for a lower sodium content.
Food & Nutrition Research, 2016
Background: School meals, if both nutritious and attractive, provide a unique opportunity to improve health equality and public health. Objective: To describe the study rationale, data collection, and background of participants in the study 'Prospects for promoting health and performance by school meals in Nordic countries' (ProMeal). The general aim was to determine whether overall healthiness of the diet and learning conditions in children can be improved by school lunches, and to capture the main concerns regarding school lunches among children in a Nordic context. Design: A cross-sectional, multidisciplinary study was performed in Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden on pupils (n 0837) born in 2003. Results: In total 3,928 pictures of school lunches were taken to capture pupils' school lunch intake. A mean of 85% of all parents responded to a questionnaire about socioeconomic background, dietary intake, and habitual physical activity at home. Cognitive function was measured on one occasion on 93% of the pupils during optimal conditions with a Stroop and a Child Operation Span test. A mean of 169 pupils also did an Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test after lunch over 3 days. In total, 37,413 10-sec observations of classroom learning behavior were performed. In addition, 753 empathy-based stories were written and 78 focus groups were conducted. The pupils had high socioeconomic status. Conclusions: This study will give new insights into which future interventions are needed to improve pupils' school lunch intake and learning. The study will provide valuable information for policy making, not least in countries where the history of school meals is shorter than in some of the Nordic countries.
School lunch nutritional adequacy: what is served, consumed and wasted
Public Health Nutrition, 2020
Objective:To determine nutritional adequacy of school lunch and to assess the impact of food waste on nutrient intake of primary schoolchildren.Design:The weighing method was used for evaluating initial servings and plate waste for lunch. Energy and nutritional contents of meals served, consumed and wasted were estimated using the software Food Processor Plus. The mean nutritional value of food served and consumed was compared with dietary guidelines.Setting:Portuguese public primary schools in the city of Porto.Participants:All 525 fourth-grade children, aged from 9 to 10 years old, attending to twenty-one public primary schools.Results:Overall, school lunches served did not meet the dietary guidelines for energy and nutrients, as only 12·5 % of the evaluated meals were adequate for energy, 33·5 % for proteins, 11·9 % for carbohydrates and 57·1 % for lipids. The majority of meals served were below the age-specific lower limit, namely for energy (83·7 %) and carbohydrates (86·8 %). ...
Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Nordic Countries
2018
Judging from a global context of human nutrition the Nordic countries form a relatively homogenous and compact entity. The general features of food choices and nutrient intakes are rather similar. Moreover the general lifestyles and also to a great extent also ethnic background of the population are of the same kind in different countries. Due to this similarity the Nordic countries share the most important relationships between nutrition and health. This has made it possible to build common nutrition recommendations for all five Nordic countries; this collaboration can be regarded as unique. This chapter describes the common Nordic nutrition and health issues by introducing the scientific background and formation of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations. Both nutrient-based recommendations and food-based dietary guidelines are presented. Moreover the chapter introduces some Nordic studies on the relationships between the Nordic diet and health. 8.2 THE NORDIC NUTRITION RECOMMENDATIONS: A UNIQUE SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION Nutrition recommendations and dietary guidelines are used in developing food, nutrition and health policies; for diet and health-related activities and programs; and in developing educational materials for the general public and the health sector (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015; Nordic Nutrition Recommendations Project Group, 2014). Despite a general belief that the nutritional recommendations are guidelines or even orders to individuals, their main use has been and is still for research and policies on the general population level. One of the main uses of nutrition recommendations is to assist in evaluating dietary habits and intakes of a population. Nordic examples of dietary surveys are, among many others,