Recent peer-reviewed observational evidence suggests that school children receive anywhere from 10-33 minutes of seated lunch time and that students with less time to eat discard higher amounts of milk, entrée (i.e. protein items), grains, and vegetables. This waste is a missed nutritional and food security opportunity and also negatively impacts the environment. The purpose of this study is to estimate the impact that lunch time constraints have on child food selection, consumption and waste behaviors using a crossover trial design, where the duration of seated lunch times are randomly allocated to be either 10 minutes or 20 minutes each day.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
39
We are randomly allocating a 10 minute or 20 period of seated lunch time.
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois, United States
Food item selection
The type and number of school meal components selected by students to eat for lunch.
Time frame: Ranges from 5 days to 20 days, depending upon how long each participant elects to enroll in the summer camp
Food item consumption
The weight of each school meal component that was consumed by each child during lunch. Each measured in grams.
Time frame: Ranges from 5 days to 20 days, depending upon how long each participant elects to enroll in the summer camp
Food item waste
The weight of each school meal component that was discarded by each child during lunch. Each measured in grams.
Time frame: Ranges from 5 days to 20 days, depending upon how long each participant elects to enroll in the summer camp
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