Juice Displaces Milk and Fruit in High School Lunches

Rebecca Boehm; Margaret Read; Marlene B Schwartz

doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2018.09.013

Juice Displaces Milk and Fruit in High School Lunches

J Nutr Educ Behav. 2019 Jan;51(1):80-85. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2018.09.013. Epub 2018 Nov 15.

Authors

Rebecca Boehm¹, Margaret Read¹, Marlene B Schwartz²

Affiliations

¹ Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT.
² Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT. Electronic address: marlene.schwartz@uconn.edu.

PMID: 30448430
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2018.09.013

Abstract

Objective: To compare beverages and foods selected by high school students on days when juice was offered (juice days) and not offered (non-juice days) with the reimbursable school meal.

Methods: Lunch register data from 386 days across 3 low-income Northeast high schools were used to compare juice and non-juice days for average daily selections of meal components and à la carte water and 100% juice sales.

Results: On juice days, 9.9% fewer milks (P < .01) and 7.4% fewer fruits (P < .01) were selected with lunches. In addition, on juice days, 8.2% fewer bottles of water and 24.4% fewer bottles of 100% juice were sold à la carte (P < .05).

Conclusions and implications: Reducing juice availability in the reimbursable school lunch may increase selection of milk and fruit. Future research is warranted to assess how juice availability influences selection of milk, fruit, and water across a range of student populations.

Keywords: 100% juice; National School Lunch Program; fruit; high school; milk.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Animals
Child
Diet / statistics & numerical data*
Fruit and Vegetable Juices*
Fruit*
Humans
Lunch*
Milk*
Schools
Students / statistics & numerical data