Are Students Throwing Away Nutrition?

The School Breakfast Program (SBP) began in 1966 in order to provide breakfast for children in poor areas and for those who had to travel a great distance to school. Although participation in the SBP has doubled between 1987 and 1997, it is unclear whether children are consuming a well-balanced breakfast. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students in a rural Missouri elementary school were eating the complete SBP meal and thereby obtaining adequate nutrition. The subjects were grades K-2 students who received the SBP meal over three days during one week in February 2001. Researchers observed which meal items were "not taken/not eaten" and noted the information on a Meal Pattern Tally Form for each student. Overall, it seemed that the students in this study consistently did not eat approximately 10% of their milk and grain/meat main menu items, nor about 40% of their fruit/vegetable servings. Consistently, more females than males did not eat the minimum servings of all food items over the 3-day period. Implications are discussed.