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Relationships between children’s sugar consumption at home and their food choices and consumption at school lunch

Abstract Objective: To investigate the relationships between children’s food and drink choices at school lunch for children who consume high and low sugar intakes at home. Design: Children’s food and drink consumption at home was assessed using diet diaries over three consecutive days. Children were classified as ‘high’ or ‘low’ sugar consumers at home using the WHO recommendation that free sugars should be less than 10 % of their daily total energy intake. A purposive sample of children was then selected and observed during school lunch, recording food selections, food left on plates and content of packed lunches. Setting: Six primary schools in Newham and Kent, England. Participants: Parents and children aged 6–7 years. Results: Seventy-one parents completed diet diaries. From the seventy-one, thirty-nine children were observed during school lunch. Twenty children were high sugar consumers, nineteen children were low sugar consumers; thirty-one children had a school meal. Eleven of the fifteen children (73 %) who had school meals and who were high sugar consumers selected a high-sugar dessert rather than fruit. Only five of the sixteen (31 %) children who had school meals and were low sugar consumers at home chose a high-sugar dessert. Most of the children who had packed lunches had sweet items, despite school policies. Conclusions: Children who consumed high sugar intake at home tended to select foods high in sugar for school meals or had packed lunches containing high-sugar foods. The implications for public health programmes include healthy eating workshops and implementing school food policies.