Students’ Food Intake from Home-Packed Lunches in the Traditional versus Balanced School Day

Purpose: To assess the type and quantity of foods children brought and consumed at school in the balanced school day (BSD), with two 20-minute eating periods, versus the traditional schedule (TS), with one 20-minute lunch.Methods: Direct observation identified food items and amounts in BSD and TS lunches of grade 3 and 4 students (n = 321).Results: The mean (SD) servings of foods packed in BSD lunches were significantly higher than the TS lunches for milk and alternatives (0.69 (0.70) vs 0.47 (0.49), P = 0.02), sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs; 0.91 (1.24) vs 0.57 (0.99), P = 0.01), and snacks (2.74 (1.55) vs 2.24 (1.48), P < 0.01). Regardless of schedule, only 40.8% of students had vegetables packed in their lunch, whereas 92.8% had snacks. When comparing foods eaten, SSBs and snacks remained significantly higher in the BSD (0.75 (1.02) vs 0.48 (0.83), P = 0.03; 2.37 (1.44) vs 1.93 (1.36), P = 0.01, respectively). The proportion of children (%) whose consumption met one-third of Canada’s Food Guide recomm...