Competitive Foods in Schools: Availability and Purchasing in Predominately Rural Small and Large High Schools

• Published in: Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2009-05, Vol.109 (5), p.857-864
• Main Authors: Nollen, Nicole L., PhD, Befort, Christie, PhD, Davis, Ann McGrath, PhD, Snow, Tricia, MPH, Mahnken, Jonathan, PhD, Hou, Qingjiang, MS, Story, Mary, PhD, Ahluwalia, Jasjit S., MD, MPH, MS
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; adolescent nutrition; Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology; adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Disease prevention; eating habits; eating out; energy content; Energy Intake - physiology; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food; Food - standards; Food Analysis; food and nutrition programs; food availability; food choices; Food Dispensers, Automatic - statistics & numerical data; Food Dispensers, Automatic - utilization; food purchasing; Food Services - statistics & numerical data; food serving methods; Food Supply - standards; Food Supply - statistics & numerical data; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastroenterology and Hepatology; high school students; Humans; Internal Medicine; Kansas; Male; Nutrition; nutritional adequacy; Nutritive Value; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - etiology; observational studies; Population Density; Rural areas; Rural Population; school food service; school meals; Schools; Secondary schools; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 0002-8223; 2212-2672; 1878-3570; 2212-2680
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jada.2009.02.013

Abstract Objectives Schools have an important role to play in obesity prevention, but little is known about the food environment in small, predominately rural schools. The primary purpose of this study was to compare the availability and student purchasing of foods sold outside of the reimbursable meals program through à la carte or vending (ie, competitive foods) in small (n=7) and large (n=6) Kansas high schools. Methods A cross-sectional observational study design was used to capture the number of à la carte and vending items available and purchased, and the fat and energy content of all available and purchased items on a single school day between January and May 2005. Results Small schools had significantly fewer vending machines than large schools (median 3.0 [range 2.0 to 5.0] vs 6.5 [range 4.0 to 8.0], P