To examine how the associations between meal consumption and BMI over 8 years differ by weight status in a sample of adolescents.

Longitudinal, population-based study. Breakfast, lunch and dinner consumption and BMI were self-reported. Linear regressions were used to examine how the associations between meal consumption and BMI differed by weight status.

Adolescents in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area.

Adolescents (n 1,471) were surveyed as part of the EAT 2010–2018 in 2009–2010 (Mage = 14·3 years) and 2017–2018 (Mage = 22·0 years).

The prevalence of regular breakfast, lunch and dinner consumption (≥ 5 times/week) ranged from 45 to 65 %, 75 to 89 % and 76 to 94 %, respectively, depending on weight status category. Among adolescents with a sex- and age-specific BMI < 15th percentile, regular consumptions of breakfast, lunch and dinner during adolescence were positively associated with BMI in emerging adulthood compared with irregular consumption of breakfast, lunch and dinner (<5 times/week) after adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics (β = 5·43, β = 5·39 and β = 6·46, respectively; all P-values <0·01). Among adolescents in the BMI 15–85th and 85–95th percentiles, regular consumptions of breakfast, lunch and dinner were positively associated with BMI but to a lesser extent (P-values <0·01). For participants with a BMI ≥ 95th percentile, regular consumptions of breakfast, lunch and dinner were positively associated with BMI, but the associations were not statistically significant (P-values > 0·05).

The relationship between meal consumption during adolescence and BMI in emerging adulthood differs by adolescent weight status. Future studies should investigate underlying factors related to meal consumption routines and BMI.

Having frequent family dinners is associated with better diet quality in children; however, it is unknown whether the frequency of certain family meal types (i.e. dinner) is more strongly associated with better child weight and diet quality compared with other meal types (i.e. breakfast, lunch). Thus, the current study examined the frequency of eating breakfast, lunch or dinner family meals and associations with pre-school children’s overall diet quality (HEI-2010) and BMI percentile.

Cross-sectional baseline data (2012–2014) from two randomized controlled childhood obesity prevention trials, NET-Works and GROW, were analysed together.

Studies were carried out in community and in-home settings in urban areas of Minnesota and Tennessee, USA.

Parent–child (ages 2–5 years) pairs from Minnesota (n 222 non-Hispanics; n 312 Hispanics) and Tennessee (n 545 Hispanics; n 55 non-Hispanics) participated in the study.

Over 80 % of families ate breakfast or lunch family meals at least once per week. Over 65 % of families ate dinner family meals ≥5 times/week. Frequency of breakfast family meals and total weekly family meals were significantly associated with healthier diet quality for non-Hispanic pre-school children (P<0·05), but not for Hispanic children. Family meal frequency by meal type was not associated with BMI percentile for non-Hispanic or Hispanic pre-school children.

Breakfast family meal frequency and total weekly family meal frequency were associated with healthier diet quality in non-Hispanic pre-school children but not in Hispanic children. Longitudinal research is needed to clarify the association between family meal type and child diet quality and BMI percentile.

To determine and compare the effect of two interventions in reducing the plate waste of school lunches.

A between-group analysis was conducted among children from three primary schools: (i) a group receiving intervention A, designed for children and focusing on nutrition education and food waste; (ii) a group receiving intervention B, intended for teachers and focusing on the causes and consequences of food waste; and (iii) a control group with no intervention. For each child, physical weighing of individual meals and leftovers was performed on three non-consecutive weeks at baseline (T0), 1 week (T1, short term) and 3 months (T2, medium term) following the intervention. Plate waste was recorded for a total of 1742 lunches during 14 d over eight different menus.

Portuguese public primary schools in the city of Porto.

All fourth-grade children (n 212) attending the three preselected schools.

After intervention A focusing on nutrition education designed for children, a decrease in soup waste was observed compared with the control group. The effect was greater at T1 (−11·9 (se 2·8) %; P<0·001) than at T2 (−5·8 (se 4·4) %; P=0·103). The plate waste of identical main dishes decreased strongly at T1 (−33·9 (se 4·8) %; P<0·001). However, this effect was not found at T2 (−13·7 (se 3·2) %; P<0·001). After intervention B involving teachers, plate waste decreased at T2 (−5·5 (se 1·9) % for soup; −5·4 (se 2·4) % for identical main dishes).

Nutrition education designed for children was more effective in the short than the medium term. Thus, this kind of intervention was not effective in reducing food waste in the medium term. In contrast, an intervention focusing on teachers revealed better results in the medium term than in the short term.

To determine macronutrients and micronutrients in foods served to and consumed by children at child-care centres in Oklahoma, USA and compare them with Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI).

Observed lunch nutrients compared with one-third of the age-based DRI (for 1–3 years-olds and 4–8-year-olds).

Oklahoma child-care centres (n 25), USA.

Children aged 3–5 years (n 415).

Regarding macronutrients, children were served 1782 (sd 686) kJ (426 (sd 164) kcal), 22·0 (sd 9·0) g protein, 51·5 (sd 20·4) g carbohydrate and 30·7 (sd 8·7) % total fat; they consumed 1305 (sd 669) kJ (312 (sd 160 kcal), 16·0 (sd 9·1) g protein, 37·6 (sd 18·5) g carbohydrate and 28·9 (sd 10·6) % total fat. For both age-based DRI: served energy (22–33 % of children), protein and carbohydrate exceeded; consumed energy (7–13 % of children) and protein exceeded, while carbohydrate was inadequate. Regarding micronutrients, for both age-based DRI: served Mg (65·9 (sd 24·7) mg), Zn (3·8 (sd 11·8) mg), vitamin A (249·9 (sd 228·3) μg) and folate (71·9 (sd 40·1) µg) exceeded; vitamin E (1·4 (sd 2·1) mg) was inadequate; served Fe (2·8 (sd 1·8) mg) exceeded only in 1–3-year-olds. Consumed folate (48·3 (sd 38·4) µg) met; Ca (259·4 (sd 146·2) mg) and Zn (2·3 (sd 3·0) mg) exceeded for 1–3-year-olds, but were inadequate for 4–8-year-olds. For both age-based DRI: consumed Fe (1·9 (sd 1·2) mg) and vitamin E (1·0 (sd 1·7) mg) were inadequate; Mg (47·2 (sd 21·8) mg) and vitamin A (155·0 (sd 126·5) µg) exceeded.

Lunch at child-care centres was twice the age-based DRI for consumed protein, while energy and carbohydrate were inadequate. Areas of improvement for micronutrients pertain to Fe and vitamin E for all children; Ca, Zn, vitamin E and folate for older pre-schoolers. Adequate nutrients are essential for development and the study reveals where public health nutrition experts, policy makers and care providers should focus to improve the nutrient density of foods.

To investigate: (i) how lunch frequency of adolescents varies between schools and between classes within schools; (ii) the associations between frequency of lunch and individual sociodemographic factors and school characteristics; and (iii) if any observed associations between lunch frequency and school characteristics vary by gender and age groups.

Cross-sectional study in which students and school headmasters completed self-administered questionnaires. Associations were estimated by multilevel multivariate logistic regression.

The Danish arm of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study 2010.

Students (n 4922) aged 11, 13 and 15 years attending a random sample of seventy-three schools.

The school-level and class-level variations in low lunch frequency were small (intraclass correlation coefficient <2·1 %). At the individual level, low lunch frequency was most common among students who were boys, 13- and 15-year-olds, from medium and low family social class, descendants of immigrants, living in a single-parent family and in a reconstructed family. School-level analyses suggested that having access to a canteen at school was associated with low lunch frequency (OR=1·47; 95% CI 1·14, 1·89). Likewise not having an adult present during lunch breaks was associated with low lunch frequency (OR=1·44; 95% CI 1·18, 1·75). Cross-level interactions suggested that these associations differed by age group.

Lunch frequency among Danish students appears to be largely influenced by sociodemographic factors. Additionally, the presence of an adult during lunch breaks promotes frequent lunch consumption while availability of a canteen may discourage frequent lunch consumption. These findings vary between older and younger students.

To develop a feasible, valid, reliable web-based instrument to objectively evaluate school meal quality in Swedish primary schools.

The construct ‘school meal quality’ was operationalized by an expert panel into six domains, one of which was nutritional quality. An instrument was drafted and pilot-tested. Face validity was evaluated by the panel. Feasibility was established via a large national study. Food-based criteria to predict the nutritional adequacy of school meals in terms of fat quality, iron, vitamin D and fibre content were developed. Predictive validity was evaluated by comparing the nutritional adequacy of school menus based on these criteria with the results from a nutritional analysis. Inter-rater reliability was also assessed.

The instrument was developed between 2010 and 2012. It is designed for use in all primary schools by school catering and/or management representatives.

A pilot-test of eighty schools in Stockholm (autumn 2010) and a further test of feasibility in 191 schools nationally (spring 2011).

The four nutrient-specific food-based criteria predicted nutritional adequacy with sensitivity ranging from 0·85 to 1·0, specificity from 0·45 to 1·0 and accuracy from 0·67 to 1·0. The sample in the national study was statistically representative and the majority of users rated the questionnaire positively, suggesting the instrument is feasible. The inter-rater reliability was fair to almost perfect for continuous variables and agreement was ≥67 % for categorical variables.

An innovative web-based system to comprehensively monitor school meal quality across several domains, with validated questions in the nutritional domain, is available in Sweden for the first time.

To describe the characteristics of employees having lunch at staff canteens and to examine the association between workplace lunch and recommended food habits.

A mailed questionnaire including data on lunch pattern, food habits, sociodemographic background, work-related factors and body weight. Logistic regression models including food habits as dependent variables and lunch pattern, sociodemographic factors, work-related factors and body mass index as independent variables.

Helsinki Health Study survey data, collected in spring 2001.

Employees from the City of Helsinki reaching 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 years. The data included 2474 women and 591 men; the response rate was 68%.

About half of those with a staff canteen at work had lunch there. Those with higher educational level were more likely to have lunch at the staff canteen, as also were women with pre-school children and normal-weight men. Those having lunch at staff canteens were more likely to follow recommended food habits, compared with other subjects. Having lunch at the staff canteen seemed to increase the consumption frequency of vegetables and fish.

Having lunch at staff canteens is associated with the quality of the diet. To serve a cooked meal including vegetables during working time may be an efficient way to improve diet among adult employees. More emphasis should be put on increasing the possibility for employees to have lunch at staff canteens.