Daily Saturated Fat and Sodium Content of Elementary School Meals in a Large Sample of 128 Geographically Diverse School Systems in the United States

Abstract

Background: Despite federal regulations limiting saturated fat and sodium levels on a weekly average basis, daily nutrient content of school meals in the United States is not regulated, leading to potential large fluctuations and intake well in excess of dietary recommendations.

Objective: To assess the daily prevalence of potential public elementary school meal combinations that were high in saturated fat and sodium (using cutoffs based on the US Department of Agriculture weekly average reimbursable meal thresholds), and to identify saturated fat and sodium thresholds for entrées to limit full meals exceeding those cutoffs.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Participants and setting: Four weeks of publicly available public elementary school (kindergarten through grade five) breakfast and lunch menus with associated nutrition data were collected from a national stratified random sample of 128 school districts during fall 2019.

Main outcome measures: Percent of meal combinations exceeding the saturated fat and Target 1 sodium thresholds were calculated, as well as thresholds for saturated fat and sodium levels in breakfast and lunch entrées.

Statistical analyses: Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine the odds of alignment with sodium and saturated fat US Department of Agriculture thresholds.

Results: The prevalence of elementary breakfast and lunch meal combinations that were high in sodium was on average 11% and 12.4%, respectively, and for saturated fat was 10.6% and 34%, respectively. Entrées above certain thresholds (≥400 and ≥1,000 mg sodium and ≥4.5 and ≥6 g saturated fat for breakfast and lunch, respectively) had a higher odds of producing a reimbursable meal that was high in sodium and saturated fat.

Conclusions: There is widespread availability of high-saturated fat and sodium elementary school meal combinations on a daily basis. Daily thresholds, in addition to weekly nutrient thresholds, as well as limits on sodium and saturated fat for entrées, may therefore be needed to prevent daily excess intake of saturated fat and sodium among elementary students.

Keywords: Breakfast; Lunch; Saturated fat; School meals; Sodium.