ArticleChildhood obesity (Print)2015
New school meal regulations increase fruit consumption and do not increase total plate waste.
Article in Childhood obesity (Print), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 86 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
86 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- School Nutrition Environment and Services: Policies and Practices That Promote Healthy Eating Among K-12 Students.The Journal of school health · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Healthier Food and Beverage Interventions in Schools: Four Community Guide Systematic Reviews.American journal of preventive medicine · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review of school meal nudge interventions to improve youth food behaviors.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020Pooled it
- Effectiveness of school food environment policies on children's dietary behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Food Waste in the National School Lunch Program 1978-2015: A Systematic Review.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2017Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Methods to Assess Children's Diets in the School Context.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2017Pooled it
- Reimagining School Meals From a Systems Thinking Perspective: A Case Study of School Meal Supply Chain Collaboration in California.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2026Article
- Multilevel, Actionable Factors Related to Adolescent Dairy Intake: A Scoping Review Guided by the Social Ecological Model.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Review
- Eating Behavior and Eating Habits: From Infancy to Adolescence.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Impact of School Rurality on Fruit and Vegetable Selection Differs by Sex and Eating Duration for Arizona Schools.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Popular Food Trends in K-12 Schools: Nutritional Analysis of Recipes and Daily Serving Patterns.Nutrition reviews · 2026Article
- Understanding multi-level policy implementation in the national school lunch and breakfast programs: a mixed-methods and agent-based modeling protocol.Implementation science communications · 2025Article
- The FOod Commodity composition for Waste qUantification and valorization opportunitieS (FOWCUS) Dataset.Scientific data · 2025Article
- A Narrative Review of Multifactorial Determinants of Childhood Eating Behaviors: Insights and Interventions Using the Social Ecological Model.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Comparison of Food Selection with the National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern Guidelines and Assessment of Children's Food Intake and Waste Using Digital Photography in a School Cafeteria.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2025Article
- "Salt and Eat It or No Salt and Trash It?" Shifts in Support for School Meal Program Flexibilities in Public Comments.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of School-Based Interventions for Preventing Obesity in Children: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2024Review
- Daily Saturated Fat and Sodium Content of Elementary School Meals in a Large Sample of 128 Geographically Diverse School Systems in the United States.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2024Article
26 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act required the USDA to update the nutrition standards of the National School Lunch Program. New policies were implemented in the 2012-2013 school year. These changes were followed by anecdotal reports of increased food waste. Empirical research is needed to reliably measure student intake and plate waste before and after this policy change.
methodsFood consumption and waste was collected annually from a cohort of middle school students in 12 schools in an urban, low-income school district before (spring 2012) and after (spring 2013 and 2014) policy changes. Generalized linear regression was used to compare pre- versus postpolicy selection and consumption of entrées, fruits, vegetables, and milk.
resultsComparing 2012 to 2014, the percentage of students choosing fruit significantly increased from 54% to 66% and fruit consumption remained high at 74%. Student selection of fruit increased by 9% for each additional type of fruit offered with the meal. The proportion of students who chose a vegetable dropped from 68% to 52%, but students selecting vegetables ate nearly 20% more of them, effectively lowering vegetable waste. Entrée consumption increased significantly from 71% to 84%, thereby also decreasing waste.
conclusionsStudents responded positively to the new lunches. They consumed more fruit, threw away less of the entrees and vegetables, and consumed the same amount of milk. Overall, the revised meal standards and policies appear to have significantly lowered plate waste in school cafeterias.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.