Imperial College London
Alternate

Dr Kiara C-M Chang

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

NIHR Research Fellow
 
 
 
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Contact

 

chu-mei.chang

 
 
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Location

 

609School of Public HealthWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Parnham:2022:10.3390/nu14081602,
author = {Parnham, JC and Chang, K and Millett, C and Laverty, A and von, Hinke S and Pearson-Stuttard, J and de, Vocht F and White, M and Vamos, EP},
doi = {10.3390/nu14081602},
journal = {Nutrients},
title = {The impact of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy on dietary quality in English and Scottish primary school children: evaluation of a natural experiment},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14081602},
volume = {14},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM) policy was introduced in September 2014 in England and January 2015 in Scotland and offered all infant schoolchildren (ages 4-7 years) a free school lunch, regardless of income. Yet, impacts of UIFSM on dietary intakes and or social inequalities are not known. A difference-in-differences study using the National Diet and Nutrition Survey assessed pooled pre-UIFSM (2010-2014) and post-UIFSM (2014-2017) dietary data. English or Scottish infant schoolchildren (4-7 years; N=458) were the intervention group with junior schoolchildren (8-11 years; N=401) as controls. We found that implementation of UIFSM led to an increase in infant schoolchildren having a school meal. Impacts on key food groups such as fruit and vegetables or sweetened beverages were not seen. However, there was evidence that the UIFSM policy lowered consumption of foods associated with packed lunches, such as crisps, and some nutrients, such as total fat and sodium. Policy impacts differed by income group, with larger effect sizes in low-income children. In conclusion, evaluation of UIFSM demonstrated some improvements on dietary quality but the findings suggest school meal quality needs to be improved to fully realise the benefits of UIFSM.
AU  - Parnham,JC
AU  - Chang,K
AU  - Millett,C
AU  - Laverty,A
AU  - von,Hinke S
AU  - Pearson-Stuttard,J
AU  - de,Vocht F
AU  - White,M
AU  - Vamos,EP
DO  - 10.3390/nu14081602
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 2072-6643
TI  - The impact of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy on dietary quality in English and Scottish primary school children: evaluation of a natural experiment
T2  - Nutrients
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14081602
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96128
VL  - 14
ER  -
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