Trial reportNutrition journal2020
Sustainable and acceptable school meals through optimization analysis: an intervention study.
Trial report in Nutrition journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04168632 (Fostering Sustainable Dietary Habits Through Optimized School Meals - an Intervention Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 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.
The trial behind it
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.
Fostering Sustainable Dietary Habits Through Optimized School Meals - an Intervention Study
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Application of acceptability in dietary optimisation models: a systematic review.Public health nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Focus of Sustainable Healthy Diets Interventions in Primary School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of system-level intervention in early childhood education and care on children's dietary intake and environmental impact of the diet.European journal of nutrition · 2026Trial
- Implementation and effectiveness of a food education intervention to promote plant-based foods: a partially cluster-randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2026Trial
- Balancing Environmental Footprints and Nutritional Efficiency in University Canteen Menus: A Scenario-Based Life Cycle Assessment of Menu Architecture.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Systems-Based Dialogue With Secondary School Students to Explore School Food Environments That Promote Healthy People and Planet.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2026Article
- Article
- Child-Driven Assessment of Plate Waste and Food-Waste Awareness in Primary Schools.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Carbon Footprint of Childhood Diets-A Secondary Analysis of Population-Based Studies.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Article
- A two-phase optimization approach in designing sustainable hospital menus by integrating nutrition, cost, and environmental factors.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Optimising school meals in Ghana: integrating new food and nutrient standards with aspects of affordability, cultural acceptability and environmental sustainability.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Optimizing nursing home menus in Norway from a sustainability and nutritional perspective.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Beyond the menu: how student agency, cultural acceptability, and equity shape realized sustainability in school food environments.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Exploring Nutritional Quality and Environmental Impact of Canteen Menus and Meals in Institutional Settings: A Scoping Review.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Exploring the pathophysiological link between obesity and kidney stone formation: cost-effective dietary and lifestyle strategies for prevention.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Review
- Health and economic benefits of energy, urban planning, and food interventions that lower greenhouse gas emissions.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the Influence of Intervention Tools Used in Nutrition Education Programs: A Mixed Approach.Nutrients · 2025Review
- An evaluation and optimization of nutrition, environmental footprint, and food waste in Italian primary school menus: a case study.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Nutritional quality evaluation of plant-based elementary school meals in Seoul.Nutrition research and practice · 2025Article
- Reducing Plate Waste in Latvian Schools: Evaluating Interventions to Promote Sustainable Food Consumption Practices.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSchool meals hold considerable potential to shape children's diets and reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE)-in the short and long term. This study applied linear optimization to develop a GHGE-reduced, nutritionally adequate, and affordable school lunch menu. The effects on food waste, consumption and pupils' satisfaction with the meals were evaluated.
methodsA pre-post design was employed to assess the effects of implementing an optimized lunch menu on daily food waste, consumption, and pupils' school meal satisfaction in three schools (grades 0-9) from one Swedish municipality. A food list containing amounts, prices, nutrient content, and GHGE-values of all foods used for a previously served (baseline) four-week lunch menu was created. Using linear programming, this food list was optimized for minimum deviation and constrained to ensure nutritional adequacy and a reduced climate impact. The optimized food list was developed into a new (intervention) four-week lunch menu by a professional meal planner, following the baseline menu as closely as possible. The baseline and intervention menus were served for four weeks, respectively, with a two week break in between. Prepared, wasted and leftover food were weighed daily by the school kitchen staff during both periods. Interrupted time series analysis assessed mean and slope differences in daily food waste and consumption between the two periods. School lunch satisfaction was assessed with an online questionnaire at baseline and during the intervention.
resultsOptimization resulted in a food list that was 40% lower in GHGE, met all nutrient recommendations for school meals, and cost 11% less compared to baseline. The intervention menu was served as planned, with only minor changes required (for practical reasons). Plate waste, serving waste, consumption and school lunch satisfaction did not differ significantly from baseline, in any of the schools.
conclusionsThe findings demonstrate that school meals can successfully be improved regarding health and environmental sustainability using linear optimization, without negative effects on food waste, consumption or cost. This approach offers the necessary flexibility to tailor menus towards different priorities and could therefore be transferred to other types of meal services.
trial registrationThe trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04168632 Fostering Healthy and Sustainable Diets Through School Meals (OPTIMAT).
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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.