Comparison of school day eating behaviours of 8–11 year old children from Adelaide, South Australia, and London, England Running title: Child eating behaviours in South Australia and England

Dorota Zarnowiecki; Meaghan S Christian; James Dollman; Natalie Parletta; Charlotte E.L Evans; Janet E Cade

doi:10.3934/publichealth.2018.4.394

AIMS Public Health , 2018, 5(4): 394-410. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2018.4.394. Research article

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Comparison of school day eating behaviours of 8–11 year old children from Adelaide, South Australia, and London, England
Running title: Child eating behaviours in South Australia and England

Dorota Zarnowiecki, Meaghan S Christian, James Dollman, Natalie Parletta, Charlotte E.L Evans, Janet E Cade

1 School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia; City East Campus, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000
2 School of Clinical and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University; City Campus, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK
3 Nutritional Epidemiology Group, School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds; Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
4 Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia; City East Campus, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000
5 Centre for Population Health, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia; South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000

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Objective: School food intake makes a considerable contribution to children’s overall diet, especially fruit and vegetable intake. Comparing differing school food provision systems can provide novel insights for intervention and improved nutrition policy. This study compared school day food in children from Australia and England. Design: Children completed food frequency questionnaires reporting school day food intake, breakfast intake and family evening meals. Differences in food consumed over the school day between Australian and English children were evaluated. Multinomial logistic regressions compared fruit and vegetable intake, family dinner frequency and breakfast in Australian and English children adjusting for confounders: age, sex, ethnicity and parent education. Setting: 27 Primary schools in Adelaide, Australia and 32 in London, England. Subjects: N = 772 children aged 8–11 years from the Australian REACH study (n = 347) and UK RHS School Gardening Trial in England (n = 425). Results: Considerably more English children reported consuming vegetables at school than Australian children (recess/lunchtime Australian children 3.4%/6.1%; English children recess/lunctime 3.6/51.1%). However, Australian children were more likely to consume vegetables daily (OR = 4.1; 1.3, 12.5), and have family evening meals everyday [OR = 4.01; 1.88, 8.55], and were less likely to consume breakfast (OR = 0.26; 0.08, 0.79) than English children. Conclusions: Findings indicate that provision of a school lunch meal, compared to a packed lunch from home, may be more supportive of children’s vegetable intake. However, without a supportive home environment that encourages vegetable intake, children will not be able to consume sufficient amounts of vegetables.

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Keywords: children; eating behaviours; lunchbox; school meal; vegetable intake; fruit intake; school food policy

Citation: Dorota Zarnowiecki, Meaghan S Christian, James Dollman, Natalie Parletta, Charlotte E.L Evans, Janet E Cade. Comparison of school day eating behaviours of 8–11 year old children from Adelaide, South Australia, and London, England
Running title: Child eating behaviours in South Australia and England. AIMS Public Health , 2018, 5(4): 394-410. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2018.4.394

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