Adequacy of Parent-Packed Lunches and Preschooler's Consumption Compared to Dietary Reference Intake Recommendations

abstractBackground: U.S. preschool children consume inadequate amounts of key nutrients. Understanding the contents of lunches packed by parents and consumed by their children can help identify areas of opportunity for the development of healthy food preferences.Objective: To evaluate the nutrient adequacy of lunches packed by parents and consumed by children attending early care and education (ECE) centers.Methods: Baseline data from 607 parent–child dyads in the “Lunch Is in the Bag” cluster-randomized controlled trial in Central Texas were examined. Foods packed by parents and consumed by children in sack lunches were observed at 30 ECE centers on 2 nonconsecutive days. Mean levels of energy, macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals were estimated with covariate-adjusted multilevel regression models that accounted for center-level clustering and repeated within-child measures.Results: Energy (kilocalories) was 602.48 for packed lunches compared to 374.40 for consumed lunches. In packed lunches, percentag...