Prospects for promoting health and performance by

school meals in Nordic countries

NordForsk # 54761

The following specific aims will be studied and compared between the Nordic countries Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Norway; countries with different systems for organizing meals in schools e.g. free cooked school lunch (Sweden and Finland), subsidized cooked school lunch (Iceland) and lunch box brought from home (Norway).

• Is there a relation between food choices in school and healthiness of total diet with respect to gender, socioeconomic status and own opinion of physical health? (WP1, WP4)

• What impact does quality and quantity of school lunch have on class room learning behaviour and/or academic achievement among boys and girls? (WP1-2)

• What impact does the school meal organisation and environment, and social aspects (interaction between staff and pupils and between pupils) have on food choices at school? (WP3-4)

• What do boys and girls experience as important regarding wanting to eat school lunch? (WP3)

AIM: to determine whether overall healthiness of the diet and learning in 10-year old children is associated with school lunches, and to capture main concerns regarding school lunches among children in a Nordic context.

Food choices, dietary intake and healthiness of the diet at home and

in school

Photographs of school

lunch trays/lunch

boxes

Dietary assessment

in school

Assessment of hunger

before and after school

lunch

Questionnaire about sleep, health and breakfast

Questionnaire about the diet

at home(Nordic

Monitoring)

Learning environment,

behaviour in the class room and

academic achievement

Classroom observations

Ability to concentrate

Learning environment

Tests and/or grades

Experiences and perspectives of school lunches among children

Focus group interviews)

Narratives (written stories)

Mind maps

School meal environment and costs of school meals

Costs of school meals

Description of school meal environment

Organisation around

school meals

General management,

analysis , dissemination

Internal communication

and external dissemination

Economy and internal organisationEthical

application

Recruiting schools and

pupils

Practical guidelines and

recommendations based on the study results