Using digital imagery to quantify students’ added sugar intake at lunch in Title I schools with universal free meals

•Added sugar comprised ~9–11% of calories consumed from lunch foods.•Added sugar comprised ~38–44% of calories consumed from lunch beverages.•3–4% of recommended daily calorie needs came from added sugar in the full lunch.•~6–7% daily calories from added sugar remained before exceeding Dietary Guidelines.•Students’ added sugar consumption appears reasonable within current NSLP guidelines. School meals are a major source of dietary intake for low-income students at high obesity risk. Associations between added sugar and obesity are well known, and the National School Lunch Program prohibits added sugar in fruit and juice; yet, no added sugar limits exist for other meal components. This study measured students’ added sugar selection and consumption in school lunches and compared % of daily calories consumed from added sugar to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommendations. In October 2016, this cross-sectional study was conducted in six Virginia Title I elementary schools (>90% racial/ethnic minorities; 100% free meals). Digital imagery plate waste methods assessed lunch consumption in N = 1155, 1st–5th graders. Added sugar (g, %kcal) in foods and beverages selected and consumed were quantified, and kcal of added sugar consumed was compared to DGA recommendations. Students consumed an average 6.6 g of added sugar from foods (grade differences; q = 0.0012), and 3.6 g of added sugar from beverages. Added sugar comprised ~10% of school lunch calories consumed from foods and ~35% of school lunch calories consumed from beverages. Added sugar in the total school lunch meal comprised ~2.5% of student’s recommended daily calorie needs; thus, ~7.5% of daily calories from added sugar remained before students would have exceeded the DGA. Total added sugar consumption was within daily DGA recommendations. Findings contribute to previous reports that school-provided lunches are low in added sugar. Future research should examine added sugar consumed in school breakfast and lunch separately and combined.