Recommended school policies are associated with student sugary drink and fruit and vegetable intake

Marilyn S. Nanney, Richard MacLehose, Martha Y. Kubik, Cynthia S. Davey, Brandon Coombes, Toben F. Nelson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between 8 recommended school obesity-related policies and student behaviors and weight in a cohort of Minnesota schools. Method: Existing surveillance surveys were used to examine the relationship between school policies to promote healthy eating and physical activity and student weight, diet, and activity behaviors from 2002 to 2006 among students (n = 18,881) in a cohort of 37 Minnesota junior-senior high and high schools using fixed effects linear regression models. Results: Each additional recommended policy was associated with a significant decrease in consumption of sugary drinks and an increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables. There were no associations with weekly hours of sedentary activities, days per week of vigorous activity, or body mass index percentile. Conclusion: Students attending schools that added recommended policies to promote healthy eating showed improved dietary behaviors, independent of secular trends compared with students in schools that did not add recommended policies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)179-181
Number of pages3
JournalPreventive medicine
Volume62
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding is currently provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development ( 5R01HD070738-02 ) and was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health award number UL1TR000114 .

Keywords

  • School nutrition policies
  • School policy evaluations
  • Student BMI percentile

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Recommended school policies are associated with student sugary drink and fruit and vegetable intake'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this