Energy and nutrient content of school lunches provided for children attending school-based nurseries: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To nutritionally analyse lunches provided for 3-4-year-old children attending school nurseries. Energy and nutrient content are compared to nutrient frameworks underpinning voluntary guidelines for early years settings (EYS) and mandatory standards for infant schools (4-7-year-olds). Design: A cross-sectional study, recording all main meals, vegetarian meals, jacket potato options, sandwich options and all desserts and accompaniments provided over 5 consecutive days in each school. Two portions of each meal were collected each day and weighed. Recipe and portion weight data were entered into nutrient analysis software. Setting: School nurseries where lunch was provided by the school. Subjects: Nine schools, providing a total of 161 meals. Results: Lunches contained more energy (1881kJ/450kcal), fat (15.5g), free sugars (10.5g) and sodium (424mg) than suggested by the nutrient framework for EYS. Carbohydrate (60.6g), protein (16.8g), fibre (6.7g), iron (2.4mg), zinc (2.0mg), calcium (202mg), vitamin A (304µg) and vitamin C (19mg) also exceeded minimum recommendations. Compared to a revised nutrient framework for infant schools, energy was within range, whilst saturated fat, free sugars, and sodium were above maximum recommendations for this age group, and zinc was below. Sandwich meals were lower in vitamin C (p<0.001-p=0.05) and iron (p=0.012-p=0.017) and higher in sodium (p<0.001-p=0.003) and calcium (p<0.001-p=0.05). Conclusion: Lunches provided for children attending school nurseries are more in line with the framework for 4-7-year-olds. Free sugars, saturated fat and sodium are areas of concern consistent with previous studies. Protein is three times more than recommended. Large portions of cakes and biscuits contribute to excess energy provision.