Healthy food options don’t equate to healthy eating in secondary schools, study finds

Healthy options aren’t necessarily leading to healthy eating among students as secondary schools are failing to fully meet Government standards, a study has found.

More than 2000 young people and staff across 36 secondary schools in the Midlands took part in the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded FUEL study, which sought to find out how well UK government’s school food standards were being adhered to. The study, published in NIHR Journals Library, and following a related study published in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, the largest of its kind looking at secondary schools.

The team of researchers led by Professor Miranda Pallan from the University of Birmingham found that on average only 64% of the school food standards were met by schools during the three-year study period with lunchtime options being the most compliant. Schools met 81% of standards applying to lunchtime food options but only 43% of standards applying to food options across the whole day, including breakfast and break times.

While some schools were more compliant with the standards than others, higher compliance was not related to healthier food choices being selected by students.

Importantly, the team found that while healthy eating options were available during the school day including lunchtime, many students found that taste, value-for-money, and convenience were most important to them when choosing food, and these needs were not satisfied by much of the school food on offer.

Many of the students who took part in the study said they didn’t enjoy the eating experience in school, and they felt that school canteens could be busy and stressful leading many students choosing to bring in their own food from home.

Miranda Pallan, Professor of Child and Adolescent Public Health at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the study said:

“This is the first study of its kind to take a detailed look at secondary school food provision and adherence to school food standards. It is perhaps unsurprising that the main drivers of food choices in secondary school students are factors such as taste and value for money, given they are at the age where they have greater agency over the food that they eat.

“We saw the highest adherence to standards for food served at lunchtimes and poorer adherence to standards for food served at break and other times during the school day. Many of the students we spoke to talked about the importance of convenience and the negative experience in canteens affecting food choices.

“Schools have a difficult balance to make when looking at healthy eating provision, with tight budgets and a student body who will vote with their feet if the food choice doesn’t meet their needs. One area where schools may be able to improve is through consultation with students about designing menus that try to balance the demands for taste and convenience with providing healthy options.”

Lack of voice

Students were often not meaningfully involved in discussions about food served in the schools that took part in the study, and the research team identified that schools may be unaware of what students want from healthier school food.

Other findings include:

• In some schools, the leaders and governors did not see school food and monitoring of the school food standards as part of their role.
• School catering teams and some school students wanted a range of appealing and healthy choices at school. But caterers sometimes found it difficult to provide healthy choices because of high costs and the need to encourage students to use the canteen.
• Schools were keen to provide education on food and tried to encourage healthy eating, but it was not always given much focus in the busy curriculum. Students in some schools thought that education on food and healthy eating was patchy and healthy eating messages were not consistent in school.

Peymané Adab, Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Birmingham and co-author of the study said:

“School is a key pillar in the lives of young people and the food and drink available there can shape their diets in the longer term. We know that teens in the UK consume three times the recommended amount of their total energy intake from free sugars, found in sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate and some sweet drinks and only 12% of teens meet the recommendation of five fruit and veg portions a day. So it’s really important that we try to address this in whatever ways possible.

“The FUEL study however shows that while schools could improve their provision of healthy food options for students, there are factors that go beyond a school’s responsibility that need to be addressed to help support young people to have healthier diets.”