Across primary and secondary schools, highly processed foods accounted for 64% of the calories provided by lunches, the study found, with packed lunches typically containing more of the food than self-delivered meals. schools. Ultra-processed products, including fast food and fizzy drinks, are often cheap and marketed as healthy options, but tend to be higher in salt, fat, sugar and additives linked to poor health such as obesity, diabetes and the cancer. “School meals must be a mechanism to provide low-cost, healthy meals to all children, which is particularly important in the current cost of living crisis,” said Dr Jennie Parnham from the school of public health at Imperial College London. “This is not currently the case. We need urgent political action to reduce the levels of ultra-processed foods in school lunches.” Researchers assessed the contents of lunches consumed by more than 3,300 elementary and secondary school students as recorded in the National Food and Nutrition Survey between 2007 and 2018. Overall, highly processed foods accounted for 82% of the calories in packed lunches and 64% in school lunches. According to the analysis in the journal Nutrients, children ate more highly processed foods when they moved from elementary to high school, with calories provided by food increasing from 61% to 77%, in part because more fast food and puddings are served in the secondary education. schools. Asked if school lunches have improved since 2018, Parnham said the problem has likely worsened. With food costs rising due to Brexit and the war in Ukraine, schools are under increasing pressure, but government support has not increased. Last month, school caterers warned that rising costs could force them to drop contracts or serve poor quality meals next school year. Current school nutrition standards do not list highly processed foods, but researchers believe they should be regulated to protect children’s health. This will require extra funding and support from the government to help schools buy healthier food at a lower price, they said. Although packed lunches were found to contain more highly processed foods than school lunches, the researchers said it was important not to blame parents. “If parents want to avoid highly processed foods, check the ingredients list. If there are a lot of ingredients you can’t pronounce or don’t recognize, then it’s highly processed, Parnham said. One tip the researchers suggest is to replace carbonated drinks, fruit juices and yogurt drinks with water. Dr Duane Mellor, a nutritionist at Aston Medical School, said despite expectations for school lunches, children don’t always choose the healthiest options. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST “The problem is that school caterers have very limited budgets, so they will tend to cook more than what will be consumed and that can make the situation worse,” he said. “Also, children will tend to choose what they like, so this can be a cycle that tends towards more of the less healthy menu options being offered and eaten in our schools.” School meals should become a key part of learning, Mellor added, with pupils encouraged to try new, healthier foods and learn food skills, including cooking, with catering funding matched so more is available. fresh food.
