Exploring the Third Step: Are Students Eating the Healthy Foods That They are Taking?
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2010
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Haverford College. Department of Economics
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
America is in the throes of an obesity epidemic that is affecting younger and younger populations. Because millions of American children receive free or reduced cost lunches through the National School Lunch (NSLP) program, improving NSLP could have a major impact on student health. Effective improvement requires three main steps: first, introduction of healthier foods; second, students’ acceptance of healthier foods onto their lunch trays; and, third, students actually eating the healthier lunch. This paper focuses on the second and third steps: if healthy choices are available, will students choose them and, if so, will they actually eat them once they sit down at the lunch table? The consumption behavior of students in two public high schools in Philadelphia serves as a sample to address these questions. This paper examines the choices students made, both in accepting items onto their trays and in consuming items they chose. Approximately half the students studied chose to take healthier fruit or vegetable offerings. However, their behavior was also consistent with trends identified by earlier research. The students were more likely to eat a larger proportion of unhealthy items on their plates and more likely to throw away a larger proportion of the healthy items. This paper proposes that additional study of peer-focused nutrition education interventions to improve outcomes at the third step.