A new Harvard study shows that students with less than 20 minutes to consume their school lunches eat much less entrees, vegetables, and milk than those with longer midday meal periods. Pupils who must gobble their food are less likely to choose fruits and more likely to waste food by throwing away leftovers on their cafeteria trays.
The research was conducted by Merrimack College, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Project Bread. It was published September 11, Friday in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Lead author Juliana Cohen is an assistant professor at the Harvard Chan School's Department of Nutrition. She explained that children get up to 50 percent of their daily energy from school meals, so they need enough time to eat their lunches.
Researchers wanted to evaluate how lunch period lengths affected their food selections and consumption. They examined the eating habits of 1,001 students at six elementary schools and middle schools that had lunch periods lasting from 20 to 30 minutes.
Researches reviewed the students' food choices and intake. They did this by monitoring what was left on their lunchroom trays when the meal period ended.
The study revealed that students with lunch periods less than 20 minutes ate 13 percent less entrees, 12 percent less vegetables, and 10 percent less milk on their trays. That was compared with youngsters having 25-minute lunch periods.
Students with less time to eat lunch were also 13 percent less likely to choose a fruit. In addition, they wasted more food.
Sometimes kids had just 10 minutes to eat, according to Harvard Gazette. That was due to waiting in lines or arriving to the cafeteria late.
The researchers had hypothesized that kids would consume their entrees and drink their milk, and then toss out the fruits and veggies. Instead they partially ate all items on their plates.
Researches proposed extending lunch period lengths. Another option is to take steps to shorten the wait times in cafeteria lines, according to HNGN.
The National School Lunch Program feeds more than 30 million children in 100,000 United States schools. However, little research has been conducted on lunch periods' lengths.