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

@inproceedings{Parnham:2022:10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02222-X,
author = {Parnham, JC and Chang, K and Rauber, F and Levy, RB and von, Hinke S and Laverty, AA and Millett, C and Vamos, EP},
doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02222-X},
title = {The ultra-processed food content of school meals and packed lunches in the UK, 2008-17: a pooled cross-sectional study.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02222-X},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - BACKGROUND: British children have the highest ultra-processed food (UPF) intake in Europe, concerning as UPF is linked to adverse health outcomes. Schools are a potential setting for intervention, yet the rate of UPFs consumed at schools is currently unknown. This study aimed to describe the UPF content of school food in the UK and to explore differences in UPF content by meal type (school meals and packed lunches [food from home]) and children's household income. METHODS: We performed a pooled cross-sectional analysis of 1895 primary school children (aged 4-11 years) and 1408 secondary school children (aged 11-18 years) using data from the UK's National Diet and Nutrition Survey (from Feb, 2008, to June, 2017). Student's meal type was recorded using food diaries. UPF intake was defined using the NOVA food classification system. Income was measured through interview. We used quantile regression models to assess the association between meal type and lunchtime UPF intake (by both the percentage of calories and weight). We stratified models by school phase (primary or secondary) and interacted meal type with income. FINDINGS: The majority of schoolchildren's lunch was defined as UPFs, with secondary school children having higher median intakes of UPFs than primary school children (78% kcal [IQR 58-95] vs 73% kcal [55-86). School meals were associated with a lower median UPF intake than packed lunches for primary school children (61% kcal [IQR 44-75] vs 81% kcal [71-91]) and for secondary school children (70% kcal [IQR 48-89] vs 84% kcal [65-99]). Results were similar when UPFs were analysed as a percentage of the total weight of lunch. Overall, income was inversely associated with UPF lunch content. However, in primary school children, there was no significant association between percentage of UPF content of school meals by weight. INTERPRETATION: In the first nationally representative study, we showed that UK school children have a high intake of UPFs at lunch. UPF in
AU  - Parnham,JC
AU  - Chang,K
AU  - Rauber,F
AU  - Levy,RB
AU  - von,Hinke S
AU  - Laverty,AA
AU  - Millett,C
AU  - Vamos,EP
DO  - 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02222-X
PY  - 2022///
TI  - The ultra-processed food content of school meals and packed lunches in the UK, 2008-17: a pooled cross-sectional study.
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02222-X
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36929954
ER  -
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