How Environmental Interventions Influence Behavior in School Lunchrooms

Health Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluating the Impact on Lunch Sales and Consumption of New School Lunch Guidelines and Behavioral Interventions in NYC Schools

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02091154
• Other study ID #: 1202002824
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: March 2012
• Est. completion date: May 2012

Study information

• Verified date: January 2022
• Source: Cornell University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators hypothesize that the new United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations for lunches served as part of the National School Lunch Program will decrease the percentage of enrolled students purchasing lunch, increase the percentage of children taking fruit and vegetables, decrease the percentage of fruit and vegetable servings being thrown away, and increase the total number of fruit and vegetable servings eaten.

The investigators also hypothesize that when the regulations are in force, simple behavioral interventions can counteract the potentially negative impact on lunch sales and consumption. In other words, implementing the regulations and behavioral interventions together, the percentage of enrolled students taking a school lunch will increase at least back to baseline levels, the percentage of children taking fruits and vegetables will increase, the percentage of fruit and vegetable servings wasted will decrease, and the total number of fruit and vegetable servings eaten will increase.

Description:

This study was conducted in 43 schools in the New York City (NYC) School district in the spring of 2012. The new regulations for school lunches were scheduled to roll out nationally in the fall of the same year, so this study was designed to provide an indication of the impact the new regulations would have.

In addition to the regulations, the investigators also tested additional behavioral interventions, in conjunction with the regulations, to determine how the behavioral interventions might offset, or magnify, the impacts of the regulations.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 43
• Est. completion date: May 2012
• Est. primary completion date: May 2012
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 5 Years to 19 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Public schools with any combination of grades K-12

Exclusion Criteria:

• No point of sale system in school

• Satellite school

• Feeder school

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Adolescent Behavior
• Child Behavior
• Health Behavior

Intervention

Behavioral:
• USDA Regulations
Implement new USDA regulations assigned school cafeterias. Fruit or vegetable on every tray Meet requirements for vegetable varieties 50% of all grains must be whole grain Milk must be 1% or skim; flavored milk must be skim
• Marketing Kit
This marketing tool kit is designed to encourage purchasing of school lunches. The marketing tool kit included the following components: 56''x72'' vinyl sign with the words "[school mascot] Cafe" 8.5''x11'' signs describing the foods offered on a specific day 2''x4'' signs used to name all foods. These were to be placed in a visible location near the corresponding food. Magnetic board displaying a tray onto which magnets shaped as food can be placed to show what foods were being offered during a specific lunch shift.
• Smarter Lunchrooms Makeover (SLM)
Implement three basic Smarter Lunchrooms techniques. It consists of the following components: Place fruit in an attractive bowl or serving dish and set on two places on the line. One of the places should be at or near the register. Give all vegetables descriptive names and write or type them on a 2''x4'' card. These cards should be visible and placed near the corresponding food. Make white milk the most prominent milk in the milk coolers by making it the most available milk and easiest to take.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	New York City School District	New York	New York

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Cornell University	United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (4)

Hanks AS, Just DR, Smith LE, Wansink B. Healthy convenience: nudging students toward healthier choices in the lunchroom. J Public Health (Oxf). 2012 Aug;34(3):370-6. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fds003. Epub 2012 Jan 31. — View Citation

Hanks AS, Just DR, Wansink B. Smarter lunchrooms can address new school lunchroom guidelines and childhood obesity. J Pediatr. 2013 Apr;162(4):867-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.12.031. Epub 2013 Feb 22. — View Citation

Hanks AS, Wansink B, Just DR. Reliability and accuracy of real-time visualization techniques for measuring school cafeteria tray waste: validating the quarter-waste method. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014 Mar;114(3):470-474. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2013.08.013. Epub 2013 Oct 14. — View Citation

Wansink B, Just DR, Hanks AS, Smith LE. Pre-sliced fruit in school cafeterias: children's selection and intake. Am J Prev Med. 2013 May;44(5):477-80. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.02.003. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Change in servings of fruits and vegetables taken	Each school cafeteria keeps records on the number of servings of each food served during a lunch period. These data were collected each day in the 43 schools from March through May 2012. Results were generated and reported in September 2012.	Six months
Primary	Change in percent fruit or vegetable waste by student	In the twelve schools, tray waste data were collected twice in April 2012 and once in May 2012. Results were generated and reported in September 2012.	Six months
Secondary	Change in lunch sales	Lunch sales data were collected each school day in the 43 schools from March through May 2012. Results were generated and reported in September 2012.	Six months