Packed School Lunch Food Consumption: A Childhood Plate Waste Nutrient Analysis.

Packed school lunch consumption remains a sparsely studied aspect of childhood nutrition. Most American research focuses on in-school meals provided through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The wide variety of available in-home packed lunches are usually nutritionally inferior compared to the highly regulated in-school meals. The purpose of this study was to examine the consumption of home-packed lunches in a sample of elementary-grade children. Through weighing packed school lunches in a 3rd grade class, mean caloric intake was recorded at 67.3% (32.7% plate waste) of solid foods, while sugar-sweetened beverage intake reported a 94.6% intake. This study reported no significant consumption change in the macronutrient ratio. Intake showed significantly reduced levels of calories, sodium, cholesterol, and fiber from the home-packed lunches (p < 0.05). The packed school lunch consumption rates for this class were similar to those reported for the regulated in-school (hot) lunches. Calories, sodium, and cholesterol intake are within childhood meal recommendations. What is encouraging is that the children were not "filling up" on more processed foods at the expense of nutrient dense foods. Of concern is that these meals still fall short on several parameters, especially low fruit/vegetable intake and high simple sugar consumption. Overall, intake moved in a healthier direction compared to the meals packed from home.

High and low fat food selection with reported frequency intolerance following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

BACKGROUND: This research compared both food selection and food intolerance frequency of High-fat grouped foods versus Low-fat grouped foods in Roux-en-Y bariatric clients during their dietary adaptation phase (DAP). METHODS: Thirty-eight bariatric surgery patients in their dietary transition phase (3 months-2.5 years) filled out a 236-food item questionnaire. From the larger set of primary data, 24 high-fat (30% or greater fat) and 22 low/lower-fat food items were itemized by selection frequency and food intolerance frequency for comparison. RESULTS: High-fat food selection was 38.3% against low fat at 50.4% (p = .0002). For comparison, the complete questionnaire's 236-item food selection percentage was 41%. Frequency of "Never" experiencing food intolerance was similar between both groups with a combined mean of 1.92%. "Seldom to Sometimes" intolerance in low-fat foods was 13.3%, and 24.9% in high fat (p = .002). Finally, "Often to Always" experiencing food intolerance in the Low-fat food group was 85.5% versus 72.2% for the High-fat group (p = .002). CONCLUSION: Roux-en-Y bariatric patients in the DAP demonstrated typical "dieting behavior" by selecting low-fat foods at a greater frequency than high-fat foods. Although selected more, these low-fat foods also showed significantly worse intolerance frequencies. Thus, current dietary/nutrition professional recommendations to avoid high-fat foods during this postsurgery transition time are problematic. Future bariatric studies are needed to further explore this and other commonly practiced "dieting behaviors" in bariatric patients.

Food selections of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients up to 2.5 years postsurgery.

Bariatric surgery forces participants to undergo a volatile dietary adjustment. The purpose of this cross-sectional research was to chronicle food selection during the period from when solid food is reintroduced through 2.5 years. Forty-eight postsurgery Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients participated in the research. Each food item selection was recorded from a list of foods that consisted of 236 individual foods. Food item selection was then categorized into one of nine conventional US Department of Agriculture-based food-groupings (eg, Dairy). No food selection differences were detected between the men and women in the study. Mean weight loss since surgery was 53.6+/-20.6 kg. Mean time since surgery was 11.1+/-7.0 months for the 35 female and 13 male patients. The food selection categories ranged from 63.2% for Condiments to 28.3% for Sweets. Next, food selections were reclassified into 31 more specific bariatric subgroups (eg, Cheeses, Milks, Yogurts). Bariatric subgroup intake ranged from 84.2% for Bottled/Tap Water to 4% for Sugared Beverages. Several group homogeneity differences existed between conventional and bariatric subgroups. Subgroup means were statistically different for the conventional categories of Dairy, Sweets, and Beverages (P>0.05). These differences demonstrate that the standard benchmarks of conventional food groupings sometimes fail to represent accurately food selection in this population. This type of more specific classification information improves eating recommendations provided by dietetics practitioners. Just as exchange food groups are of great value to patients with diabetes, these more specific bariatric food subgroups represent a needed increase in accuracy in dietary recommendations for patients after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.