ArticlePublic health nutrition2025
Meals, mealtimes and moments for learning: assessment of quality in early childhood education and care services.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Are childcare settings' food menus fit for purpose? A qualitative analysis in England.Health promotion international · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveEarly education and care (ECEC) is part of the everyday life of most children in developed economies, presenting exceptional opportunity to support nutrition and ongoing food preferences. Yet, the degree to which such opportunity is captured in policy-driven assessment and quality ratings of ECEC services is unknown.
designAbductive thematic analysis was conducted, guided by key domains of knowledge in nutrition literature and examining identified themes within these domains.
settingECEC services (
participantsData were a random sample of field notes pertaining to mealtimes and food provision (
resultsThe field notes mapped to three theory-driven domains:
conclusionsDespite evidence that childhood nutrition is crucial for optimal development and learning, the quality and quantity of food are not directly assessed. Relationships and interactions at mealtimes provide an environment ideal for promoting learning and development, yet the policy guiding inspection and assessment of ECEC services directs focus to a more limited lens of safety, hygiene and promotion of 'healthy foods'. Our findings identify a narrow conceptualisation of mealtimes focused on 'health' as limiting the potential to leverage mealtimes as places to support children's nutrition and attendant development and learning.
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