unhealthy eating essay

Healthy Food Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on healthy food.

Healthy food refers to food that contains the right amount of nutrients to keep our body fit. We need healthy food to keep ourselves fit.

Furthermore, healthy food is also very delicious as opposed to popular thinking. Nowadays, kids need to eat healthy food more than ever. We must encourage good eating habits so that our future generations will be healthy and fit.

Most importantly, the harmful effects of junk food and the positive impact of healthy food must be stressed upon. People should teach kids from an early age about the same.

Benefits of Healthy Food

Healthy food does not have merely one but numerous benefits. It helps us in various spheres of life. Healthy food does not only impact our physical health but mental health too.

When we intake healthy fruits and vegetables that are full of nutrients, we reduce the chances of diseases. For instance, green vegetables help us to maintain strength and vigor. In addition, certain healthy food items keep away long-term illnesses like diabetes and blood pressure.

Similarly, obesity is the biggest problems our country is facing now. People are falling prey to obesity faster than expected. However, this can still be controlled. Obese people usually indulge in a lot of junk food. The junk food contains sugar, salt fats and more which contribute to obesity. Healthy food can help you get rid of all this as it does not contain harmful things.

In addition, healthy food also helps you save money. It is much cheaper in comparison to junk food. Plus all that goes into the preparation of healthy food is also of low cost. Thus, you will be saving a great amount when you only consume healthy food.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Junk food vs Healthy Food

If we look at the scenario today, we see how the fast-food market is increasing at a rapid rate. With the onset of food delivery apps and more, people now like having junk food more. In addition, junk food is also tastier and easier to prepare.

However, just to satisfy our taste buds we are risking our health. You may feel more satisfied after having junk food but that is just the feeling of fullness and nothing else. Consumption of junk food leads to poor concentration. Moreover, you may also get digestive problems as junk food does not have fiber which helps indigestion.

Similarly, irregularity of blood sugar levels happens because of junk food. It is so because it contains fewer carbohydrates and protein . Also, junk food increases levels of cholesterol and triglyceride.

On the other hand, healthy food contains a plethora of nutrients. It not only keeps your body healthy but also your mind and soul. It increases our brain’s functionality. Plus, it enhances our immunity system . Intake of whole foods with minimum or no processing is the finest for one’s health.

In short, we must recognize that though junk food may seem more tempting and appealing, it comes with a great cost. A cost which is very hard to pay. Therefore, we all must have healthy foods and strive for a longer and healthier life.

FAQs on Healthy Food

Q.1 How does healthy food benefit us?

A.1 Healthy Benefit has a lot of benefits. It keeps us healthy and fit. Moreover, it keeps away diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and many more. Healthy food also helps in fighting obesity and heart diseases.

Q.2 Why is junk food harmful?

A.2 Junk food is very harmful to our bodies. It contains high amounts of sugar, salt, fats, oils and more which makes us unhealthy. It also causes a lot of problems like obesity and high blood pressure. Therefore, we must not have junk food more and encourage healthy eating habits.

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Food and mood: how do...

Food and mood: how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing?

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Food and mood: how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing? - November 09, 2020
Joseph Firth , research fellow 1 2 ,
James E Gangwisch , assistant professor 3 4 ,
Alessandra Borsini , researcher 5 ,
Robyn E Wootton , researcher 6 7 8 ,
Emeran A Mayer , professor 9 10
1 Division of Psychology and Mental Health, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Oxford Road, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
2 NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, Australia
3 Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, USA
4 New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
5 Section of Stress, Psychiatry and Immunology Laboratory, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Psychological Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK
6 School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
7 MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Oakfield House, Bristol, UK
8 NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
9 G Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, UCLA Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
10 UCLA Microbiome Center, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Correspondence to: J Firth joseph.firth{at}manchester.ac.uk

Poor nutrition may be a causal factor in the experience of low mood, and improving diet may help to protect not only the physical health but also the mental health of the population, say Joseph Firth and colleagues

Key messages

Healthy eating patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, are associated with better mental health than “unhealthy” eating patterns, such as the Western diet

The effects of certain foods or dietary patterns on glycaemia, immune activation, and the gut microbiome may play a role in the relationships between food and mood

More research is needed to understand the mechanisms that link food and mental wellbeing and determine how and when nutrition can be used to improve mental health

Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health conditions worldwide, making them a leading cause of disability. 1 Even beyond diagnosed conditions, subclinical symptoms of depression and anxiety affect the wellbeing and functioning of a large proportion of the population. 2 Therefore, new approaches to managing both clinically diagnosed and subclinical depression and anxiety are needed.

In recent years, the relationships between nutrition and mental health have gained considerable interest. Indeed, epidemiological research has observed that adherence to healthy or Mediterranean dietary patterns—high consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes; moderate consumption of poultry, eggs, and dairy products; and only occasional consumption of red meat—is associated with a reduced risk of depression. 3 However, the nature of these relations is complicated by the clear potential for reverse causality between diet and mental health ( fig 1 ). For example, alterations in food choices or preferences in response to our temporary psychological state—such as “comfort foods” in times of low mood, or changes in appetite from stress—are common human experiences. In addition, relationships between nutrition and longstanding mental illness are compounded by barriers to maintaining a healthy diet. These barriers disproportionality affect people with mental illness and include the financial and environmental determinants of health, and even the appetite inducing effects of psychiatric medications. 4

Hypothesised relationship between diet, physical health, and mental health. The dashed line is the focus of this article.

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While acknowledging the complex, multidirectional nature of the relationships between diet and mental health ( fig 1 ), in this article we focus on the ways in which certain foods and dietary patterns could affect mental health.

Mood and carbohydrates

Consumption of highly refined carbohydrates can increase the risk of obesity and diabetes. 5 Glycaemic index is a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to the speed at which they are digested, absorbed, metabolised, and ultimately affect blood glucose and insulin levels. As well as the physical health risks, diets with a high glycaemic index and load (eg, diets containing high amounts of refined carbohydrates and sugars) may also have a detrimental effect on psychological wellbeing; data from longitudinal research show an association between progressively higher dietary glycaemic index and the incidence of depressive symptoms. 6 Clinical studies have also shown potential causal effects of refined carbohydrates on mood; experimental exposure to diets with a high glycaemic load in controlled settings increases depressive symptoms in healthy volunteers, with a moderately large effect. 7

Although mood itself can affect our food choices, plausible mechanisms exist by which high consumption of processed carbohydrates could increase the risk of depression and anxiety—for example, through repeated and rapid increases and decreases in blood glucose. Measures of glycaemic index and glycaemic load can be used to estimate glycaemia and insulin demand in healthy individuals after eating. 8 Thus, high dietary glycaemic load, and the resultant compensatory responses, could lower plasma glucose to concentrations that trigger the secretion of autonomic counter-regulatory hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, growth hormone, and glucagon. 5 9 The potential effects of this response on mood have been examined in experimental human research of stepped reductions in plasma glucose concentrations conducted under laboratory conditions through glucose perfusion. These findings showed that such counter-regulatory hormones may cause changes in anxiety, irritability, and hunger. 10 In addition, observational research has found that recurrent hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) is associated with mood disorders. 9

The hypothesis that repeated and rapid increases and decreases in blood glucose explain how consumption of refined carbohydrate could affect psychological state appears to be a good fit given the relatively fast effect of diets with a high glycaemic index or load on depressive symptoms observed in human studies. 7 However, other processes may explain the observed relationships. For instance, diets with a high glycaemic index are a risk factor for diabetes, 5 which is often a comorbid condition with depression. 4 11 While the main models of disease pathophysiology in diabetes and mental illness are separate, common abnormalities in insulin resistance, brain volume, and neurocognitive performance in both conditions support the hypothesis that these conditions have overlapping pathophysiology. 12 Furthermore, the inflammatory response to foods with a high glycaemic index 13 raises the possibility that diets with a high glycaemic index are associated with symptoms of depression through the broader connections between mental health and immune activation.

Diet, immune activation, and depression

Studies have found that sustained adherence to Mediterranean dietary patterns can reduce markers of inflammation in humans. 14 On the other hand, high calorie meals rich in saturated fat appear to stimulate immune activation. 13 15 Indeed, the inflammatory effects of a diet high in calories and saturated fat have been proposed as one mechanism through which the Western diet may have detrimental effects on brain health, including cognitive decline, hippocampal dysfunction, and damage to the blood-brain barrier. 15 Since various mental health conditions, including mood disorders, have been linked to heightened inflammation, 16 this mechanism also presents a pathway through which poor diet could increase the risk of depression. This hypothesis is supported by observational studies which have shown that people with depression score significantly higher on measures of “dietary inflammation,” 3 17 characterised by a greater consumption of foods that are associated with inflammation (eg, trans fats and refined carbohydrates) and lower intakes of nutritional foods, which are thought to have anti-inflammatory properties (eg, omega-3 fats). However, the causal roles of dietary inflammation in mental health have not yet been established.

Nonetheless, randomised controlled trials of anti-inflammatory agents (eg, cytokine inhibitors and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) have found that these agents can significantly reduce depressive symptoms. 18 Specific nutritional components (eg, polyphenols and polyunsaturated fats) and general dietary patterns (eg, consumption of a Mediterranean diet) may also have anti-inflammatory effects, 14 19 20 which raises the possibility that certain foods could relieve or prevent depressive symptoms associated with heightened inflammatory status. 21 A recent study provides preliminary support for this possibility. 20 The study shows that medications that stimulate inflammation typically induce depressive states in people treated, and that giving omega-3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory properties, before the medication seems to prevent the onset of cytokine induced depression. 20

However, the complexity of the hypothesised three way relation between diet, inflammation, and depression is compounded by several important modifiers. For example, recent clinical research has observed that stressors experienced the previous day, or a personal history of major depressive disorders, may cancel out the beneficial effects of healthy food choices on inflammation and mood. 22 Furthermore, as heightened inflammation occurs in only some clinically depressed individuals, anti-inflammatory interventions may only benefit certain people characterised by an “inflammatory phenotype,” or those with comorbid inflammatory conditions. 18 Further interventional research is needed to establish if improvements in immune regulation, induced by diet, can reduce depressive symptoms in those affected by inflammatory conditions.

Brain, gut microbiome, and mood

A more recent explanation for the way in which our food may affect our mental wellbeing is the effect of dietary patterns on the gut microbiome—a broad term that refers to the trillions of microbial organisms, including bacteria, viruses, and archaea, living in the human gut. The gut microbiome interacts with the brain in bidirectional ways using neural, inflammatory, and hormonal signalling pathways. 23 The role of altered interactions between the brain and gut microbiome on mental health has been proposed on the basis of the following evidence: emotion-like behaviour in rodents changes with changes in the gut microbiome, 24 major depressive disorder in humans is associated with alterations of the gut microbiome, 25 and transfer of faecal gut microbiota from humans with depression into rodents appears to induce animal behaviours that are hypothesised to indicate depression-like states. 25 26 Such findings suggest a role of altered neuroactive microbial metabolites in depressive symptoms.

In addition to genetic factors and exposure to antibiotics, diet is a potentially modifiable determinant of the diversity, relative abundance, and functionality of the gut microbiome throughout life. For instance, the neurocognitive effects of the Western diet, and the possible mediating role of low grade systemic immune activation (as discussed above) may result from a compromised mucus layer with or without increased epithelial permeability. Such a decrease in the function of the gut barrier is sometimes referred to as a “leaky gut” and has been linked to an “unhealthy” gut microbiome resulting from a diet low in fibre and high in saturated fats, refined sugars, and artificial sweeteners. 15 23 27 Conversely, the consumption of a diet high in fibres, polyphenols, and unsaturated fatty acids (as found in a Mediterranean diet) can promote gut microbial taxa which can metabolise these food sources into anti-inflammatory metabolites, 15 28 such as short chain fatty acids, while lowering the production of secondary bile acids and p-cresol. Moreover, a recent study found that the ingestion of probiotics by healthy individuals, which theoretically target the gut microbiome, can alter the brain’s response to a task that requires emotional attention 29 and may even reduce symptoms of depression. 30 When viewed together, these studies provide promising evidence supporting a role of the gut microbiome in modulating processes that regulate emotion in the human brain. However, no causal relationship between specific microbes, or their metabolites, and complex human emotions has been established so far. Furthermore, whether changes to the gut microbiome induced by diet can affect depressive symptoms or clinical depressive disorders, and the time in which this could feasibly occur, remains to be shown.

Priorities and next steps

In moving forward within this active field of research, it is firstly important not to lose sight of the wood for the trees—that is, become too focused on the details and not pay attention to the bigger questions. Whereas discovering the anti-inflammatory properties of a single nutrient or uncovering the subtleties of interactions between the gut and the brain may shed new light on how food may influence mood, it is important not to neglect the existing knowledge on other ways diet may affect mental health. For example, the later consequences of a poor diet include obesity and diabetes, which have already been shown to be associated with poorer mental health. 11 31 32 33 A full discussion of the effect of these comorbidities is beyond the scope of our article (see fig 1 ), but it is important to acknowledge that developing public health initiatives that effectively tackle the established risk factors of physical and mental comorbidities is a priority for improving population health.

Further work is needed to improve our understanding of the complex pathways through which diet and nutrition can influence the brain. Such knowledge could lead to investigations of targeted, even personalised, interventions to improve mood, anxiety, or other symptoms through nutritional approaches. However, these possibilities are speculative at the moment, and more interventional research is needed to establish if, how, and when dietary interventions can be used to prevent mental illness or reduce symptoms in those living with such conditions. Of note, a recent large clinical trial found no significant benefits of a behavioural intervention promoting a Mediterranean diet for adults with subclinical depressive symptoms. 34 On the other hand, several recent smaller trials in individuals with current depression observed moderately large improvements from interventions based on the Mediterranean diet. 35 36 37 Such results, however, must be considered within the context of the effect of people’s expectations, particularly given that individuals’ beliefs about the quality of their food or diet may also have a marked effect on their sense of overall health and wellbeing. 38 Nonetheless, even aside from psychological effects, consideration of dietary factors within mental healthcare may help improve physical health outcomes, given the higher rates of cardiometabolic diseases observed in people with mental illness. 33

At the same time, it is important to be remember that the causes of mental illness are many and varied, and they will often present and persist independently of nutrition and diet. Thus, the increased understanding of potential connections between food and mental wellbeing should never be used to support automatic assumptions, or stigmatisation, about an individual’s dietary choices and their mental health. Indeed, such stigmatisation could be itself be a casual pathway to increasing the risk of poorer mental health. Nonetheless, a promising message for public health and clinical settings is emerging from the ongoing research. This message supports the idea that creating environments and developing measures that promote healthy, nutritious diets, while decreasing the consumption of highly processed and refined “junk” foods may provide benefits even beyond the well known effects on physical health, including improved psychological wellbeing.

Contributors and sources: JF has expertise in the interaction between physical and mental health, particularly the role of lifestyle and behavioural health factors in mental health promotion. JEG’s area of expertise is the study of the relationship between sleep duration, nutrition, psychiatric disorders, and cardiometabolic diseases. AB leads research investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of stress and inflammation on human hippocampal neurogenesis, and how nutritional components and their metabolites can prevent changes induced by those conditions. REW has expertise in genetic epidemiology approaches to examining casual relations between health behaviours and mental illness. EAM has expertise in brain and gut interactions and microbiome interactions. All authors contributed to, read, and approved the paper, and all the information was sourced from articles published in peer reviewed research journals. JF is the guarantor.

Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following: JF is supported by a University of Manchester Presidential Fellowship and a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship and has received support from a NICM-Blackmores Institute Fellowship. JEG served on the medical advisory board on insomnia in the cardiovascular patient population for the drug company Eisai. AB has received research funding from Johnson & Johnson for research on depression and inflammation, the UK Medical Research Council, the European Commission Horizon 2020, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College London. REW receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. EAM has served on the external advisory boards of Danone, Viome, Amare, Axial Biotherapeutics, Pendulum, Ubiome, Bloom Science, Mahana Therapeutics, and APC Microbiome Ireland, and he receives royalties from Harper & Collins for his book The Mind Gut Connection. He is supported by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the US Department of Defense. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the organisations above.

Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

This article is part of series commissioned by The BMJ. Open access fees are paid by Swiss Re, which had no input into the commissioning or peer review of the articles. T he BMJ thanks the series advisers, Nita Forouhi, Dariush Mozaffarian, and Anna Lartey for valuable advice and guiding selection of topics in the series.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

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Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Nutrition — Persuasive Essay On Eating Healthy

Persuasive Essay on Eating Healthy

Categories: Nutrition Persuasion

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Published: Mar 5, 2024

Words: 968 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

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Health Capsule

How Your Eating Habits Affect Your Health

Young woman in grocery store looking at apples.

A new study shows how the things you eat can influence your risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, or type 2 diabetes. The findings suggest ways to change your eating habits to improve your health.

Experts already know that a healthy eating plan includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. A healthy diet also includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. It limits saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars.

NIH-funded scientists analyzed how these 10 dietary factors affect your risk of death from heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. These are known as cardiometabolic diseases. The team relied on data from the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and national mortality data.

The scientists found that risk of death from the 3 diseases was higher for those who consumed too much sodium, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and unprocessed red meat. Risk of death was also higher among those who didn’t eat enough nuts and seeds, seafood omega-3 fats, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, or polyunsaturated fats. According to the analysis, nearly half (45%) of deaths in 2012 from the 3 diseases was associated with too much or too little of these 10 dietary factors.

“This study establishes the number of cardiometabolic deaths that can be linked to Americans’ eating habits, and the number is large,” explains Dr. David Goff, a heart disease and public health expert at NIH. “Second, it shows how recent reductions in those deaths relate to improvements in diet, and this relationship is strong. There is much work to be done in preventing heart disease, but we also know that better dietary habits can improve our health quickly, and we can act on that knowledge by making and building on small changes that add up over time.”

Dietary Consumption: Strategies for Healthy Eating Essay (Speech)

General Goal: To persuade.

Specific Goal: At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy eating.

Central Idea: People should incorporate healthy eating in their diets contrary to which it increases the risk of developing various diseases.

Introduction

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that, while eating nutritious food is essential for enhancing your health, most people consume an unhealthy diet thus increasing the risk of contracting various diseases such as cancer, reduced brain functioning, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, or being generally obese or overweight (CDC, 2021a). Most people fall into this category, not because they lack the knowledge about healthy eating, but because they chose to ignore the recommended nutritious consumption.

Reveal Your Topic

Today, I will highlight some strategies of healthy eating against which failure to follow them would be detrimental to your health.

Motivate the Audience to Listen

Probably, you are thinking that you have been eating unhealthy food and nothing has happened to you. Yet, you may not have experienced some of the risks of poor diet, I am here to illustrate to you why you should always have healthy nutrition to boost your health and avoid common diseases that you could develop in the span of your life.

Credibility Statement

While I am not a qualified doctor or nutritionist, I have conducted ample and elaborate research on the strategies for healthy eating.

Today, I will explore three strategies of healthy eating, their benefits, and consequences if not properly followed.

I will first talk about vegetables and fruits
Then, I will talk about proteins and carbohydrates
Finally, I will discuss saturated fats and sugar

Now that I have given you an overview of my topic today, let’s explore my first major point.

It is recommended that we consume vegetables and fruits regularly to stay healthy.

Consumption of vegetables is integral to the health of our bodies:

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans states that people should eat more vegetables to boost their health and prevent themselves from chronic diseases (DietaryGuidelines.gov., 2020).
Surprisingly, only 9% of the people consumed the recommended portions of vegetables in their diet (CDC, 2021b).
In their book, Vegetables: Importance of Quality Vegetables to Human Health , Asaduzzaman and Asao (2018) illustrate that failure to consume the recommended amounts of vegetables in daily meals is associated with increased risk of cancer and stroke.
Moreover, Asaduzzaman and Asao (2018) expound that lack of proper intake of vegetables causes vitamin deficiency diseases such as scurvy (lack of vitamin C) and Sclerosis (lack of vitamin A).

Consumption of fruits is highly encouraged as one of the major eating habits that all people should embrace.

In its 2019 publication, World Health Organization (WHO) explains that fruit intake is associated with disease prevention as it enhances the immunity of our bodies.
Furthermore, WHO (2019) highlights that fruits reduce the risk of adiposity in adolescents and young children.
As its publication shows, failure to take appropriate amounts of fruits leads to increased risk for various diseases such as myocardial infarction.
WHO emphasizes that lack of adequate fruit servings in the meals could cause different types of cancer.
While fruits are crucial in our nutritious feeding, only 12% of Americans eat the recommended amount of fruits (CDC, 2021b).

TRANSITION: Now that we have talked about vegetables and fruits, let us delve into proteins and carbohydrates.

Proteins and carbohydrates are essential for our bodies

While some people could be vegetarians, the need for proteins in dietary consumption is crucial.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 indicate that proteins could be obtained from animals such as poultry, meat, seafood, and dairy or plant sources for vegetarians (DietayGuidelines.gov., 2020).
Nutrition scholars, Shan et al. (2019) state that proteins are essential to repair body cells besides promoting growth and development in pregnant women, children, and teenagers.
Failure to consume the recommended amounts of protein causes various diseases.
As Shan et al. (2019) explain, insufficient protein in the body leads to impaired mental health, muscle-tissue shrinkage, weak immune system, marasmus, and ultimately, total organ failure.

Carbohydrates

In their article, nutritionists, Shan et al. (2019) note that carbohydrates are needed in the body as a source of the energy we use to perform daily activities.
Therefore, it is important to consume the required portions of carbohydrates for our muscles, brain, and other body parts to function normally.
According to Shan et al. (2019), failure to meet the recommended carbohydrate intake leads to low blood sugar causing hypoglycemia.
Furthermore, Shan et al. (2019) present that carbohydrates deficiency results in ketosis, characterized by bad breath, mental fatigue, joint pains, headache, and nausea.

TRANSITION: Let us now talk about the last major point in my speech, saturated fats, and sugars

It is imperative to avoid saturated fats and sugars

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 recommend that people should limit the consumption of saturated fats to live healthy lives.

The food we consume must stay within one’s calorie needs for our bodies to operate normally.
People are not supposed to eat excess calories beyond the levels recommended in the Dietary Guidelines.
The Dietary Guidelines call upon Americans to consume foods with the least amounts of saturated fats (less than 10% of the total calories consumed per day, DietaryGuidelines.gov, 2020).
CDC (2021a) reports that excessive saturated fats cause higher levels of blood cholesterol eventually leading to heart diseases or stroke.

Besides, the Dietary Guidelines recommend that Americans’ choice of beverages and single food should be nutrient-dense but, with no added processed sugars.

A healthy dietary habit limits the amount of processed sugars to fewer than 10% of the total calories consumed daily (DietaryGuidelines.gov, 2020).
CDC (2021a) posits that consumption of sugar is the root cause of type 2 diabetes, well as increased risk of heart disease and obesity among Americans.

TRANSITION TO CLOSE: As I conclude my speech today, I would like to remind you that the principal capital asset in our lives in good health.

Re-State Central Idea

Incorporating healthy eating in our diets is critical but, lack of it increases the risk of developing the various disease.

Today we have talked about strategies of healthy eating, their benefits, and consequences if not properly followed.

First, we talked about vegetables and fruits
Then, we explored proteins and carbohydrates
Finally, we discussed about saturated fats and sugar

Tie Back to Audience

I hope as you leave this place today, you have appropriate information that would encourage you to observe healthy eating habits.

Closure Statement

While most people have the necessary information we need about dietary consumption; nutrition-related diseases are on the rise. From today, everyone must take full responsibility for their eating habits.

Asaduzzaman, M., & Asao, T. (Eds.). (2018). Vegetables: Importance of quality vegetables to human health . BoD–Books on Demand.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2021a). Poor nutrition. CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Web.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2021b). Only 1 in 10 adults get enough fruits or vegetables . Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Web.

DietaryGuidelines.gov. (2020). Dietary Guidelines for Americans , 2020-2025. Web.

Shan, Z., Rehm, C. D., Rogers, G., Ruan, M., Wang, D. D., Hu, F. B.,… & Bhupathiraju, S. N. (2019). Trends in dietary carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake and diet quality among US adults, 1999-2016 . Jama , 322 (12), 1178-1187. Web.

World Health Organization. (WHO, 2019). Sustainable healthy diets: guiding principles . Food & Agriculture Org. Web.

Fats, Carbohydrates, and Proteins
Saturated Fatty Acids and Coronary or Cardiovascular Disease
Fats and Proteins in Relation to Type 2 Diabetes
On the Strategies for Healthy Eating Promotion
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Essay on Unhealthy Food

Students are often asked to write an essay on Unhealthy Food in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Unhealthy Food

What is unhealthy food.

Unhealthy food refers to items that are bad for our health. These foods are often high in sugar, salt, and bad fats. Eating a lot of these can lead to health problems like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Examples include fast food, sugary drinks, and snacks like chips.

Effects on Health

Eating unhealthy food can make you gain weight and feel tired. It can also cause serious health issues over time, such as high blood pressure, heart problems, and type 2 diabetes. It’s important to eat these foods in moderation.

Choosing Healthier Options

To stay healthy, try to eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Drinking water instead of sugary drinks is also a good choice. Making these changes can help you feel better and avoid health problems in the future.

250 Words Essay on Unhealthy Food

Unhealthy food refers to food items that are not good for our health. These foods are often high in sugar, salt, and fat. Eating too much of these foods can lead to health problems like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Examples of unhealthy foods include fast food, candy, and soft drinks.

Why People Eat Unhealthy Food

Many people eat unhealthy food because it is quick, easy to get, and tastes good. Fast food restaurants are everywhere, making it easy for people to choose unhealthy options. Also, unhealthy food is often cheaper than healthy food, making it a common choice for people on a tight budget.

Effects of Unhealthy Food

Eating too much unhealthy food can make you gain weight and feel tired. It can also lead to serious health problems over time. For example, too much sugar can cause tooth decay and diabetes. Too much fat can lead to heart disease. It is important to eat these foods in small amounts or not at all.

It is possible to make healthier choices even when you are tempted by unhealthy food. Instead of soda, you can drink water. Instead of candy, you can eat fruit. And instead of fast food, you can try cooking simple meals at home. By making these choices, you can enjoy tasty food that is also good for your health.

500 Words Essay on Unhealthy Food

Unhealthy food refers to foods that are not good for our health. These are often high in bad fats, sugar, and salt. Eating a lot of this kind of food can lead to many health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Unhealthy foods are often very tasty which makes people want to eat them more and more. But, it’s important to understand that they do not give our bodies the nutrients they need to stay healthy and strong.

Examples of Unhealthy Food

Some common examples of unhealthy food include fast food like burgers and fries, sugary drinks like soda, and snacks like chips and cookies. These foods are very popular, especially among kids, because they are quick to get and taste very good. But, they are not good for our health if we eat them too much.

Why is Unhealthy Food Bad for Us?

Eating unhealthy food can make us gain weight very quickly. This is because they have a lot of calories but do not make us feel full for a long time. This can lead to eating more and more, which is not good for our bodies. Also, unhealthy food does not have the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to work properly. This can make us feel tired and can even make it hard for us to learn and remember things.

The Impact on Children

Children are growing, and they need the right kinds of food to help their bodies and brains develop properly. When children eat too much unhealthy food, it can lead to problems like being overweight, having trouble in school, and even feeling sad or angry. It’s very important for children to eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains so they can grow up strong and healthy.

How to Avoid Unhealthy Food

Avoiding unhealthy food can be hard, especially when it is everywhere and tastes so good. But, there are some things we can do to eat healthier. One way is to eat more home-cooked meals. This way, we know exactly what is in our food and can make healthier choices. Another way is to choose healthier snacks like fruits instead of chips or water instead of soda. It’s also important to read the labels on food so we can choose the ones with less sugar, salt, and bad fats.

In conclusion, unhealthy food might taste good, but it is not good for our health. It can lead to many health problems and can make it hard for kids to grow up strong and healthy. By making better food choices and eating more healthy foods, we can take care of our bodies and live a healthier life. Remember, it’s okay to enjoy unhealthy food once in a while, but it’s important to not eat them too much.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Essays About Eating Healthy Foods: 7 Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

If you’re writing essays about eating healthy foods, here are 7 interesting essay examples and topic ideas.

Eating healthy is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But we can all struggle to make it a part of our routine. It’s easier to make small changes to your eating habits instead for long-lasting results. A healthy diet is a plan for eating healthier options over the long term and not a strict diet to be followed only for the short.

Writing an essay about eating healthy foods is an exciting topic choice and an excellent way to help people start a healthy diet and change their lifestyles for the better. Tip: For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?

1. The Definitive Guide to Healthy Eating in Real Life By Jillian Kubala

2. eating healthy foods by jaime padilla, 3. 5 benefits of eating healthy by maggie smith, 4. good food bad food by audrey rodriguez, 5. what are the benefits of eating healthy by cathleen crichton-stuart, 6. comparison between healthy food and junk food by jaime padilla, 7. nutrition, immunity, and covid-19 by ayela spiro and helena gibson-moore, essays about eating healthy foods topic ideas, 1. what is healthy food, 2. what is the importance of healthy food, 3. what does eating healthy mean, 4. why should we eat healthy foods, 5. what are the benefits of eating healthy foods, 6. why should we eat more vegetables, 7. can you still eat healthy foods even if you are on a budget.

“Depending on whom you ask, “healthy eating” may take many forms. It seems that everyone, including healthcare professionals, wellness influencers, coworkers, and family members, has an opinion on the healthiest way to eat. Plus, nutrition articles that you read online can be downright confusing with their contradictory — and often unfounded — suggestions and rules. This doesn’t make it easy if you simply want to eat in a healthy way that works for you.”

Author Jillian Kubala is a registered dietitian and holds a master’s degree in nutrition and an undergraduate degree in nutrition science. In her essay, she says that healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated and explains how it can nourish your body while enjoying the foods you love. Check out these essays about health .

“Eating provides your body with the nourishment it needs to survive. A healthy diet supplies nutrients (such as protein, vitamins and minerals, fiber, and carbohydrates), which are important for your body’s growth, development, and maintenance. However, not all foods are equal when it comes to the nutrition they provide. Some foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are rich in vitamins and minerals; others, such as cookies and soda pop, provide few if any nutrients. Your diet can influence everything from your energy level and intellectual performance to your risk for certain diseases.”

Author Jaime Padilla talks about the importance of a healthy diet in your body’s growth, development, and maintenance. He also mentioned that having a poor diet can lead to some health problems. Check out these essays about food .

“Eating healthy is about balance and making sure that your body is getting the necessary nutrients it needs to function properly. Healthy eating habits require that people eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fats, proteins, and starches. Keep in mind that healthy eating requires that you’re mindful of what you eat and drink, but also how you prepare it. For best results, individuals should avoid fried or processed foods, as well as foods high in added sugars and salts.”

Author Maggie Smith believes there’s a fine line between healthy eating and dieting. In her essay, she mentioned five benefits of eating healthy foods – weight loss, heart health, strong bones and teeth, better mood and energy levels, and improved memory and brain health – and explained them in detail.

You might also be interested in our round-up of the best medical authors of all time .

“From old generation to the new generation young people are dying out quicker than their own parents due to obesity-related diseases every day. In the mid-1970s, there were no health issues relevant to obesity-related diseases but over time it began to be a problem when fast food industries started growing at a rapid pace. Energy is naturally created in the body when the nutrients are absorbed from the food that is consumed. When living a healthy lifestyle, these horrible health problems don’t appear, and the chances of prolonging life and enjoying life increase.”

In her essay, author Audrey Rodriguez says that having self-control is very important to achieving a healthy lifestyle, especially now that we’re exposed to all these unhealthy yet tempting foods that all these fast-food restaurants offer. She believes that back in the early 1970s, when fast-food companies had not yet existed and home-cooked meals were the only food people had to eat every day, trying to live a healthy life was never a problem.

“A healthful diet typically includes nutrient-dense foods from all major food groups, including lean proteins, whole grains, healthful fats, and fruits and vegetables of many colors. Healthful eating also means replacing foods that contain trans fats, added salt, and sugar with more nutritious options. Following a healthful diet has many health benefits, including building strong bones, protecting the heart, preventing disease, and boosting mood.”

In her essay, Author Cathleen Crichton-Stuart explains the top 10 benefits of eating healthy foods – all of which are medically reviewed by Adrienne Seitz, a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist. She also gives her readers some quick tips for a healthful diet.

“In today’s generation, healthy and unhealthy food plays a big role in youths and adults. Many people don’t really understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, many don’t actually know what the result of eating too many unhealthy foods can do to the body. There are big differences between eating healthy food, unhealthy food and what the result of excessively eating them can do to the body. In the ongoing battle of “healthy vs. unhealthy foods”, unhealthy foods have their own advantage.”

Author Jaime Padilla compares the difference between healthy food and junk food so that the readers would understand what the result of eating a lot of unhealthy foods can do to the body. He also said that homemade meals are healthier and cheaper than the unhealthy and pricey meals that you order in your local fast food restaurant, which would probably cost you twice as much.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked both an increased clinical and public interest in the role of nutrition and health, particularly in supporting immunity. During this time, when people may be highly vulnerable to misinformation, there have been a plethora of media stories against authoritative scientific opinion, suggesting that certain food components and supplements are capable of ‘boosting’ the immune system. It is important to provide evidence-based advice and to ensure that the use of non-evidence-based approaches to ‘boost’ immunity is not considered as an effective alternative to vaccination or other recognized measures.”

Authors Ayela Spiro, a nutrition science manager, and Helena Gibson-Moore, a nutrition scientist, enlighten their readers on the misinformation spreading in this pandemic about specific food components and supplements. They say that there’s no single food or supplement, or magic diet that can boost the immune system alone. However, eating healthy foods (along with the right dietary supplements), being physically active, and getting enough sleep can help boost your immunity.

If you’re writing an essay about eating healthy foods, you have to define what healthy food is. Food is considered healthy if it provides you with the essential nutrients to sustain your body’s well-being and retain energy. Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water are the essential nutrients that compose a healthy, balanced diet.

Eating healthy foods is essential for having good health and nutrition – it protects you against many chronic non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. If you’re writing an essay about eating healthy foods, show your readers the importance of healthy food, and encourage them to start a healthy diet.

Eating healthy foods means eating a variety of food that give you the nutrients that your body needs to function correctly. These nutrients include carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. In your essay about eating healthy foods, you can discuss this topic in more detail so that your readers will know why these nutrients are essential.

Eating healthy foods includes consuming the essential nutrients your body requires to function correctly (such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water) while minimizing processed foods, saturated fats, and alcohol. In your essay, let your readers know that eating healthy foods can help maintain the body’s everyday functions, promote optimal body weight, and prevent diseases.

Eating healthy foods comes with many health benefits – from keeping a healthy weight to preventing long-term diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. So if you’re looking for a topic idea for your essay, you can consider the benefits of eating healthy foods to give your readers some useful information, especially for those thinking of starting a healthy diet.

Ever since we were a kid, we have all been told that eating vegetables are good for our health, but why? The answer is pretty simple – vegetables are loaded with the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that our body needs. So, if you’re writing an essay about eating healthy foods, this is an excellent topic to get you started.

Of course, you definitely can! Fresh fruits and vegetables are typically the cheapest options for starting a healthy diet. In your essay about eating healthy foods, you can include some other cheap food options for a healthy diet – this will be very helpful, especially for readers looking to start a healthy diet but only have a limited amount of budget set for their daily food.

For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?

If you’re stuck picking your next essay topic, check out our round-up of essay topics about education .

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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Unhealthy Food, Essay Example

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Junk food also called junk food from this concept of the English expression junk food also known as fast food (fast food). This refers to the foods that do not add nutrients bone that we do not provide nutritional value. Michael Jacobson defines these foods as the “food that is perceived as unhealthy or with little nutritional value, which contains high levels of fat, salt or carbohydrates and many food additives; at the same time, with a lack of protein, vitamins and fiber, among others. This type of food is also popular among consumers because of their ease to the time of acquiring it, does not require any type of preparation or this is scarce, it is comfortable to eat and have a great diversity of flavors.” A part of all the criticism about this type of food there is a strong increase in its consumption due to several factors related to the day-to-day activities of a society in which time is short and don t give importance to food and prefer concentrate all our time at work or studies. This type of food is very tasty, tasty and even addictive is also available to all, there are typically many establishments where you can buy, and the majority have home delivery. The advertising of this type of food is everywhere, it has become fashionable and a lot of people for the sake of convenience the has among its favorite. There are many examples of junk food such as pizzas such as hot dogs, french fries, some sweet, sweet, some refreshments but the maximum exponent or with that relates the junk food is the menus a hamburger bun with french fries and carbonated soft drink. Since a few years ago in some countries is forced show the quantity and caloric energy that brings the food we buy.

In addition to lead to obesity and harm the metabolism, the junk food biologically that prevents a person improve their diet. The brain is programed to prevent the excessive consumption of a single type of products in search of a balanced diet, but an unhealthy diet inhibits this natural mechanism.

A group of scientists from Australia carried out a study with two groups of rats. The first group was a diverse diet, while the second only ate biscuits, cakes and other products high in calories and fat. The rats were offered two types of water with two different flavors, each accompanied with a different sound.

Throughout the experiment – which lasted two weeks, the rats with healthy diet began to ignore the signs of the water if you have recently had already drunk the flavor that offered them. This is the normal behavior: eating or drinking more of the same would be excessive.

On the other hand, the group with the unhealthy ration not noticeable difference and drank the water every time he wanted possibility without differentiating the flavors, leading to excessive consumption.

What is amazing is that after you return to a healthy diet the second group of rats did not change their behavior, what would be a lasting nature of the food habits caused by junk food. The scientists believe that the outcome of the study deserves a detailed investigation and intended to repeat the experiment with a longer term.

Often when we talk about or hear the term “fat” automatically think of terms such as obesity, cholesterol, fat, poor health… however perhaps there are some things about fats that do not know and that you must take into account the time to follow a healthy diet, since not all fats are bad and, in addition, fats are absolutely necessary for our body.

Fats, along with the carbohydrates and proteins, they are the three basic nutrients that our body needs to stay alive and with energy. We cannot live apart from any of these three macronutrients, therefore you must know that the fat, in its fair measure, are very healthy.

In addition, as carbohydrates are not all equal (see our article about carbohydrates and glycemic index), fats are not all equal. You can distinguish up to three different types:

Saturated fats: These fats are “bad”, which you should avoid at all costs. Well, not how to avoid both, but if you moderate your intake. These fats usually come from foods of animal origin, such as meat, eggs or milk.

Unsaturated: These are the most healthy and help regulate our cholesterol level. Can be found in foods such as soy milk, vegetables, or fish, and is highly recommended prioritize the intake of these fats before that the saturated.

Polyunsaturated fats: These you should also try to avoid them as they are saturated.

Well, now that you know which types of fats are good, we are going to recommend a number of foods that contain unsaturated fats instead of saturated and that, therefore, you must prioritize these in your diet such as dried fruits, mainly walnuts and hazelnuts.

This also includes fish such as salmon or the blue fish. The salmon is a fish that, although it contains many fats, these are unsaturated, so they are healthy. The fat of the fish is, primarily, the well-known omega 3.

The soy milk, in addition to having all the benefits of milk and do not have lactose, has a significant amount of healthy fats.

Virgin olive oil: One of the sources of unsaturated fats that you must incorporate from already to your diet, as well as the food belonging to the Mediterranean diet.

Unsaturated fats have certain benefits to our body that will be key especially in more advanced ages, such as helping to regulate our cholesterol level, and other benefits that are important in all ages, as that helps to prevent obesity and improve our cardiovascular system, making us find more energetic and preventing diseases of the reason.

The sugars in the daily diet should not contribute more than 10-15% of the total calories ingested, however, its excess not only involve an increased risk to achieve a positive energy balance, but that the negative effects of eating sugar in excess go beyond the calories. Below we show you in that other aspects is detrimental consume sugar in excess.

Sugar can increase the risk of deficiencies in the B vitamins. The sugars and carbohydrates in general need of the B complex vitamins for your metabolism, therefore, consuming a lot of sugar will increase the demand for these micronutrients and if your intake is low, we have more risk of deficiency in the B vitamins such as B1, B2 and B5.

Increases the blood triglycerides: an excess of sugars in the diet combined with a great fat intake, you can promote the synthesis and accumulation of triglycerides in the body, therefore, to moderate the contribution of carbohydrates with the simple foods will help to prevent a hypertriglyceridemia that can translate into higher cardiovascular risk if it occurs.

Dental Caries: it is known that foods rich in sugars are the basic substrate of the cariogenic bacteria, therefore, an excessive consumption of substrate will increase the likelihood of having dental and oral diseases such as caries.

Increased risk of acne: people who are prone to acne should know that the great release of insulin which causes consume simple sugars in excess, it can mean a resurgence of acne, therefore, this is another of the negative effects of eating sugar in excess.

Of course, the negative effects of excessive consumption of sugar go beyond calories and this has been demonstrated recently. In addition, we cannot fail to say that the more calories without micronutrients that represents eating sugars in excess may mean obesity. That is to say, beyond the calories and the risk of being overweight, we should all take care of the consumption of sugar if you want to benefit the health with diet and not harm it with what we eat.

Usually associate the fats to a poor health or a type of nutrient harmful for our body, and is not as well. Fats along with carbohydrates are one of the main sources of energy in our body, which makes them essential in our diet, and we must consume moderately.

To begin we’ll start with the healthy fats. Are those that belong to the group of the unsaturated. Fats are in a pure state it is say, no other agency has transformed previously, which is why they are available to our body in order to be processed to your whim and exploited to the maximum. This type of fat found in plant foods such as olive oil or virgin olive oil on the fish at the in the form of omega 3. Regular consumption is essential for the proper functioning of our body.

A diet rich in this type of unsaturated fatty acids will help us to prevent diseases such as cardiovascular disease, because its depurative properties of the blood have the function to reduce the level of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, with what our blood pressure will be reduced, and with it the risk of stroke. In addition, they help to regulate our body disorders such as avoiding obesity…

On the other hand we have the saturated fats, which are also essential for the proper functioning of our body, but their consumption should be very limited. This type of fat found in meat, coconut and palm oil, widely used in the industrial bakery and industrially processed foods. A regular intake of this type of food will lead to increased cholesterol, reducing the body’s ability to subdue him, which leads to an increase in cardiovascular diseases as well as an imbalance in our body.

For all these reasons we must consume mainly unsaturated fats that we will provide the health and welfare necessary for our body, as well as the energy that we require for the proper functioning of the body. It is the processed foods that contain the artificial chemicals that can harm our body.

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Promoting Healthy Eating among Young People—A Review of the Evidence of the Impact of School-Based Interventions

Abina chaudhary.

1 Independent Researcher, Kastrupvej 79, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark; moc.oohay@yrahduahcaniba

František Sudzina

2 Department of Materials and Production, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Aalborg University, A. C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark

3 Department of Systems Analysis, Faculty of Informatics and Statistics, University of Economics, nám. W. Churchilla 1938/4, 130 67 Prague, Czech Republic

Bent Egberg Mikkelsen

4 Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark; kd.uk.ngi@imeb

Intro: Globally, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing among children and younger adults and is associated with unhealthy dietary habits and lack of physical activity. School food is increasingly brought forward as a policy to address the unhealthy eating patterns among young people. Aim: This study investigated the evidence for the effectiveness of school-based food and nutrition interventions on health outcomes by reviewing scientific evidence-based intervention studies amongst children at the international level. Methods: This study was based on a systematic review using the PRISMA guidelines. Three electronic databases were systematically searched, reference lists were screened for studies evaluating school-based food and nutrition interventions that promoted children’s dietary behaviour and health aiming changes in the body composition among children. Articles dating from 2014 to 2019 were selected and reported effects on anthropometry, dietary behaviour, nutritional knowledge, and attitude. Results: The review showed that school-based interventions in general were able to affect attitudes, knowledge, behaviour and anthropometry, but that the design of the intervention affects the size of the effect. In general, food focused interventions taking an environmental approach seemed to be most effective. Conclusions: School-based interventions (including multicomponent interventions) can be an effective and promising means for promoting healthy eating, improving dietary behaviour, attitude and anthropometry among young children. Thus, schools as a system have the potential to make lasting improvements, ensuring healthy school environment around the globe for the betterment of children’s short- and long-term health.

1. Introduction

Childhood is one of the critical periods for good health and development in human life [ 1 , 2 ]. During this age, the physiological need for nutrients increases and the consumption of a diet high in nutritional quality is particularly important. Evidence suggests that lifestyle, behaviour patterns and eating habits adopted during this age persist throughout adulthood and can have a significant influence on health and wellbeing in later life [ 3 , 4 ]. Furthermore, the transition from childhood into adolescence is often associated with unhealthy dietary changes. Thus, it is important to establish healthful eating behaviours early in life and specially focus on the childhood transition period. A healthy diet during the primary age of children reduces the risk of immediate nutrition-related health problems of primary concern to school children, namely, obesity, dental caries and lack of physical activity [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Furthermore, young people adopting these healthy habits during childhood are more likely to maintain their health and thus be at reduced risk of chronic ailments in later life [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Thus, healthy behaviours learnt at a young age might be instrumental in reaching the goals of good health and wellbeing of the 2030 Sustainability Agenda which has implications at the global level.

Globally, the prevalence of overweight and obesity rose by 47.1% for children and 27.5% for adults between 1980 and 2013 [ 10 ]. A recent WHO (World Health Organization) Commission report [ 10 ] stated that if these same trends were to continue, then by 2025, 70 million children are predicted to be affected [ 11 ]. Hence, the increased prevalence might negatively affect child and adult morbidity and mortality around the world [ 12 , 13 ]. Worldwide the dietary recommendations for healthy diets recommend the consumption of at least five portions of fruits and vegetables a day, reduced intake of saturated fat and salt and increased consumption of complex carbohydrates and fibres [ 14 ]. However, studies show that most children and adolescent do not meet these guidelines [ 15 , 16 ] and, thus, as a result, childhood and adolescent obesity are alarming nearly everywhere [ 17 ]. Recent figures show that the prevalence has tripled in many countries, making it the major public health issue in the 21st century [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. According to WHO [ 4 ], 1 in 3 children aged 6–9 were overweight and obese in 2010, up from 1 in 4 children of the same age in 2008.

The increased prevalence of overweight and obesity has fuelled efforts to counteract the development, as seen for instance in the action plan on childhood obesity [ 17 ]. Increasingly policy makers have been turning their interest to the school setting as a well-suited arena for the promotion of healthier environments [ 18 ]. As a result, schools have been the target of increased attention from the research community to develop interventions and to examine the school environment to promote healthful behaviours including healthy eating habits.

Globally, interventions in the school environment to promote healthier nutrition among young people have received considerable attention from researchers over the past years. But there is far from a consensus on what are the most effective ways to make the most out of schools’ potential to contribute to better health through food-based actions. Is it the environment that makes a difference? Is it the education or is it the overall attention given to food and eating that plays the biggest role? School food and nutrition intervention strategies have witnessed a gradual change from knowledge orientation to behavioural orientation [ 22 ] and from a focus on the individual to the food environment. Research evidence has shown that adequate nutrition knowledge and positive attitudes towards nutrition do not necessarily translate to good dietary practices. Similarly, research has shown that the food environment plays a far bigger role in behaviour than originally believed [ 23 , 24 ].

School-based interventions can a priori be considered as an effective method for promoting better eating at the population level. Schools reach a large number of participants across diverse ethnic groups. It not only reaches children, but school staffs, family members as well as community members [ 8 , 25 ]. Schools can be considered a protected place where certain rules apply and where policies of public priority can be deployed relatively easily. In addition, schools are professional spaces in which learning and formation is at the heart of activities and guided by a skilled and professional staff. Schools, as such, represent a powerful social environment that hold the potential to promote and provide healthy nutrition and education. Besides the potential to create health and healthy behaviours, good nutrition at school has, according to more studies, the potential to add to educational outcomes and academic performance [ 26 , 27 , 28 ].

However, taking the growth in research studies and papers in the field into account, it is difficult for both the research community and for policy makers to stay up to date on how successful school-based interventions have been in improving dietary behaviours, nutritional knowledge and anthropometry among children. Also, the knowledge and insights into how it is possible to intervene in the different corners of the school food environment has developed which obviously has influenced over recent decades how programs and interventions can be designed. It has also become clear that food at school is more than just the food taken but includes curricular and school policy components. The findings from school-based studies on the relationship between school, family as well as community-based interventions and health impact suggest that health impacts are dependent on the context in which they have been carried out as well as the methodology. Thus, an updated overview as well as a more detailed analysis of initiatives is needed in order to develop our understanding of the nature of the mechanisms through which the school can contribute to the shaping of healthier dietary behaviour among children and adolescents before more precise policy instruments can be developed. Our study attempted to fill the need for better insight into which of the many intervention components works best. It attempted to look at school food and nutrition interventions reported in the literature that have been looking at healthy eating programmes, projects, interventions or initiatives.

School-based interventions in the Western world are traditionally targeted at addressing obesity and over-nutrition, but school food interventions are also addressing under nutrition and, as such, their role in a double burden of disease perspective should not be underestimated. Many studies have reported on micronutrient malnutrition among school-aged children in developing countries (for instance [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]) but it has also been reported in the context of developed countries [ 32 ]. Against this backdrop, the aim of this study was to provide an analysis of the evidence of the effectiveness of school-based food interventions by reviewing recent scientific, evidence-based intervention studies on healthy eating promotion at school. The specific objectives of the study were to identify which interventions had an effect on primary outcomes, such as BMI, or on secondary outcomes such as dietary behaviour, nutritional knowledge and attitude.

2. Materials and Methods

The functional unit of the review were healthy eating programmes, projects or initiatives that have been performed using the school as a setting. We included only programmes, projects or initiatives that were studied in a research context, in the sense that they were planned by researchers, carried out under controlled settings using a research protocol, and reported in the literature. School-based programmes, projects, interventions or initiatives are, per definition, cluster samples where a number of schools first were chosen for intervention followed by performing an outcome measurement before and after the intervention and, in most cases, also in one or more control schools. The outcome measurement in the studies reviewed was performed on a sample of students that was drawn from each school (cluster).For this, the systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and the standardised quality assessment tool “effective public health practice project (EPHPP) quality assessment tool for quantitative studies” were used for analysing the quality assessment of the included studies [ 33 ]. This EPHPP instrument can be used to assess the quality of quantitative studies with a variety of study designs.

2.1. Literature Search

The literature review involved searches in PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library database. The search strategy was designed to be inclusive and focused on three key elements: population (e.g., children); intervention (e.g., school-based); outcome (e.g., diet and nutrition, knowledge, attitude and anthropometrics). The search terms used in PubMed database were: “effectiveness of school food AND nutrition AND primary school children”, “effectiveness of school food AND nutrition AND interventions OR programs AND among primary school children AND increase healthy consumption”, “primary school children and education and food interventions”, “Effectiveness of school-based food interventions among primary school”, “effectiveness of school-based nutrition and food interventions”, “primary school interventions and its effectiveness”, and “obesity prevention intervention among Primary schools”. Search terms such as: “effectiveness of school-based food interventions among primary school”, “effectiveness of school based food and nutrition interventions”, “primary school interventions and its effectiveness” and “obesity prevention interventions”, were used in the Web of Science database. Lastly, search terms such as: “nutrition interventions in primary schools” and “Nutrition education interventions in school” were used in the Cochrane Library database to find the articles. In addition, reference lists of all retrieved articles and review articles [ 34 ] were screened for potentially eligible articles. The search strategy was initially developed in PubMed and adapted for use in other databases. In addition, snowballing of the reference list of the selected articles was conducted.

2.2. Inclusion Criteria

Studies selected for the inclusion were studies which investigated the effectiveness of a school-based interventions targeting food and nutrition behaviour, healthy eating and nutrition education as a primary focus during the intervention. Also, to be included in this review, only articles from 2014 to 2019 were selected and of those inclusion criteria included articles targeting primary school children aged between 5 and 14 years. Participants included both boys and girls without considering their socio-economic background. Study design included randomized controlled trial “RCT”, cluster randomized controlled trial “RCCT”, controlled trial “CT”, pre-test/post-test with and without control “PP”, experimental design “Quasi”. Studies which did not meet the intervention components/exposures, such as information and teaching (mostly for the target group and parents were additional), family focus on social support and food focus (which mainly focuses on the availability of free foods including food availability from school gardening), were excluded. Systematic review papers and studies written in different language except for English were excluded as well. Studies which met the intervention criteria but had after school programs were excluded.

2.3. Age Range

Since the review covers a broad range of different countries and since school systems are quite different, the sampling principle had to include some simplification and standardisation. The goal of the review was to cover elementary (primary) and secondary education and, as a result, the age range of 5–14 was chosen to be the best fit, although it should be noted that secondary education in some countries also covers those 15–18 years of age. In most countries, elementary education/primary education is the first—and normally obligatory—phase of formal education. It begins at approximately age 5 to 7 and ends at about age 11 to 13 and in some countries 14. In the United Kingdom and some other countries, the term primary is used instead of elementary. In the United States the term primary refers to only the first three years of elementary education, i.e., grades 1 to 3. Elementary education is, in most countries, preceded by some kind of kindergarten/preschool for children aged 3 to 5 or 6 and normally followed by secondary education.

2.4. Assessment of Study Eligibility

For the selection of the relevant studies, all the titles and abstracts generated from the searches were examined. The articles were rejected on initial screening if the title and abstract did not meet the inclusion criteria or met the exclusion criteria. If abstracts did not provide enough exclusion information or were not available, then the full text was obtained for evaluation. The evaluation of full text was done to refine the results using the aforementioned inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thus, those studies that met predefined inclusion criteria were selected for this study.

2.5. Analytical Approach

The first step of data collection was aimed at organizing all studies with their key information. In the second step, we created coded columns. A coded column served as a basis for being able to do further statistical analysis. In other words, in a coded column we added a new construct not originally found in the papers as a kind of dummy variable that standardized otherwise non-standardized information, allowing us to treat otherwise un-calculable data statistically. For the impact columns, we used the following approach to construct codes where impacts where put on a 1–4-point Likert scale with 1 being “ineffective”, 2 “partially effective”, 3 “effective” and 4 “very effective”.

For the design column, the following approach was adopted as illustrated in the Table 1 . Quasi experimental/pre–post studies were labelled QED and were considered to always include a baseline and follow-up outcome measurement. As the simplest design with no comparison but just a pre/post study of the same group, we constructed a power column and assigned 1 to this for a QED design. For the controlled trial (CT), we assigned the power 2. A controlled trial is the same as QED but with a comparison/control in which no interventions are made and with no randomization. We considered a study to be of that kind if some kind of controls were made which could be, for instance, matching. All CTs in our study included 2 types of comparisons: pre and post (baseline and follow-up) as well as a comparison between intervention/no intervention. For the RCT/RCCT—a trial that is controlled through the randomization—we assigned the power 3. This “top of hierarchy” design includes the case (intervention) and a control (no intervention) and normally two types of comparisons (pre and post) as well as an intervention/no intervention. For the context of this study, we did not differentiate between RCTs and RCCTs. The latter is sometimes used to stress the fact that the school (or the class) is the sampling unit from which the subjects are recruited. But since in the context of schools RCCT is simply a variation of RCT, we coded them in the same class of power. We simply assumed that when authors spoke about an RCT, they in fact meant an RCCT since they could not have been sampling subjects without using the school as the unit.

Coding table for study designs. The table shows the types of studies examined in the review and the power assigned to them.

Codes and categorization were used to standardize the information found in the papers for our statistical analysis. Categorisation of the age/class level, such as EA—Early age, EML—Early middle late, EL—Early late, was used.

For the intervention components (“what was done”) we translated all studies into three columns: information and teaching, family and social support and environmental components, food provision and availability. The latter was further expanded into three columns labelled as: focus on and provisioning of F & V; free food availability through school gardening and availability of food and healthier food environment. Our inclusion criteria were that studies should contain at least one of these components. For the environmental component—food provision and availability intervention components—we identified 2 distinct types: either a broad healthier eating focus or a narrow and more targeted fruit and vegetable focus. After the coding, we started to ask questions about the data. Most importantly, we were interested in knowing whether there existed a relationship between “what was done” and “what was the impact”. In other words, we were interested in knowing more whether there was a pattern in the way the studies intervened and the outcomes.

2.6. Queries Made

We performed queries for each intervention component (the independent variable in columns K, L and M) for each single outcome measure.

Is there a relationship between age and outcome? We used the coded column (EA, EML, etc.) to study that relationship.

In addition, we made queries regarding the relationship among study designs. For instance, would the duration of studies influence whether an effect could be found or not? Would more powerful designs result in more impact?

Furthermore, we made queries on the relationship between one intervention and a multi-interventional component and their effect on the outcome measure. Also, the queries on target groups were made. Codes such as S and NS (refer Table 4) in the column were used to study the relationship. In our analysis a distinction was made between “standard” and “extreme” (special cases). From the reviewed papers, it was clear that some studies put little emphasis on the school selected. We classified those as standard (S). However, a few papers used a stratification approach and case/cluster selection that can be classified as an “extreme” or non-standard case. We coded these as non-standard (NS). For instance, studies could be targeted to include only refugees or subjects of low socio-economic status. It can be speculated that being a “special case” or extreme case could have an influence. As a result, we reserved a code for these cases, although it became clear that they represented only a minority.

In our study, availability plays a central role, since it is used in many food-at-school intervention studies. Availability signals that food is “pushed” as opposed to being used in the “pull” mode, where individuals are expected to request food in the sense that is the behaviour of the individual that becomes the driving force rather than the “out thereness”. Availability is in most studies used in combination with the idea of a food environment. The literature shows that availability can be of two types. One is when food is made available for the individual to take where visibility, salience, product placement, etc., are used as factors. The other type of availability is when it is made free and the individual as a result does not have to pay. Free availability has been studied extensively in intervention studies but for obvious reason it is difficult to implement “post-study” since there needs to be a permanent financing present. The only exceptions to this are the collective meal models found in countries such as Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Brazil as well as in the EU scheme where the EU subsidizes the fruit.

Study design and other characteristics are provided in Table 2 , and their findings are provided in Table 3 .

The review sample: study design/characteristics. The table shows the 43 studies of the review Illustrating study design and study characteristics of the included studies.

The review sample-findings. The table shows the findings from the 43 studies of the review.

The information from abstracts were organized in a table with the following information:

Column A: Authors. The column lists the researchers/authors conducting the study.

Column B: Year. The column shows the year of the publication of the article.

Column C: Title/Reference. The column lists the title of the article.

Column D: Main aim. The column lists the main aim presented by authors in the abstract of each article.

Column E: Main aim in brief. This column is a constructed variable that refers to the main aim of each study. The idea was to give in brief the study idea and which outcome measures was focused on in the study.

Column F: Program name. The column gives the name of the project, program or intervention reported in in the article.

Column G: Location and Country. The column lists the specific place or location where the study was performed.

Column H: Study design. The column shows research design of the study according to authors.

Column I: Study design coded. This column is a constructed variable to capture the research design of the study and used to make an analysis of power possible, see Column J.

Column J: Power. The column was constructed to express the strength of the design. It is a dummy variable that was assigned a numerical value that allowed for a quantitative analytical approach.

Column K, L and M: Intervention components. The column shows which intervention components that was used in the study. We used a model that categorizes components into three different mechanisms of influence: cognitive (K), environmental (L, M, N) and social (O).

The environmental component includes actions where availability of meals—or fruit and vegetable (F & V)—were increased. Either through passive provision (F & V and meals) or through active participation such as gardening. The social category included actions where families and/or peers were actively influencing the participants. The cognitive category included teaching and learning.

Column L: Environmental/food focus on F & V. In this column, interventions which were targeted towards fruits and vegetables were flagged. This includes interventions whose focus was providing cooking lessons and maintaining healthy cafeterias during the intervention periods. Also, maintaining healthy cafeteria here refers to school canteens providing healthy options to its menu where children’s while buying food have healthier options to choose.

Column M: Environmental/food focus on increasing availability through school gardening. In this column, interventions which provided free foods among participants through gardening within the school were listed.

Column N: Environmental/food interventions focused on healthy meal availability. Interventions which provided healthy meals, breakfast, snacks during the school hours and distributed fresh fruits among the participants were listed in this column.

Column O: Family/social support. In this column interventions that included social components were flagged. These interventions included peer and family influence mechanisms.

Column P: Age. The column lists the age of the targeted groups of the intervention expressed in years according to the primary article data provided by authors.

Column Q: Age construct EA. This column shows a constructed variable for the age categorization based on the primary data given by authors. The constructed code was made to make statistical analyses possible. The construct Early Age (EA) was assigned if intervention were carried out in early school.

Column R: Age construct EML. This column shows a constructed variable for the age categorization based on the primary data given by authors. The code Early Middle Late (EML) was assigned if intervention was targeted all age groups.

Column S: Age construct EL. This column shows a constructed variable for the age categorization based on the primary data given by authors. The code EL refers to Early late and was assigned if the intervention was targeted early and early and late school.

Column T: Sample size. The number of young people enrolled in the intervention was listed in this column.

Column U: Time duration. This column shows the length of the intervention expressed in months. It is a constructed variable based on the primary data given by authors and was made to standardize duration and make it ready for cross study analysis.

Columns V, W, X, Y: Outcome measures. In Columns T, U, V, W, the outcome measures named as Anthropometry, HE/FV (healthy eating fruits and vegetables), Nutritional knowledge, and Attitude, respectively, were listed according to our outcome model shown in Figure 1 . Only a few include all outcome measures, but all studies included at least one of them.

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Outcome measures model. The figure illustrates the four types of outcome measures found in the interventions.

Columns X, AA, AB, AC: Effectiveness. The effectiveness as measured by the outcomes measured are listed in this column. Each outcome measure was rated using a Likert scale from 0–4. The effectiveness of outcome measures among participants as measured by the measures in our model ( Figure 1 ): attitude, anthropometry, HE/FV, nutritional knowledge and attitude were listed in the Columns X, Y, Z, AA, respectively.

Column AD: Target group. This column provides information on the target group of interventions such as information on grades of subjects and municipalities.

Columns AE, AF: Target group. This column is a constructed variable created to capture if the intervention had a special ethnic or socio-economic focus. Columns AC and AD consisted of coded target group named as Standard (S) and Non-Standard (NS). The “NS” here represents the target group either from refugees or immigrants or lower socio-economic classes.

Column AG: Keywords. This column lists the keywords found in the interventions.

Ordinary least squares regression was applied in this study; specifically, we used the linear regression function in IBM SPSS 22. We opted for a multi-variate approach; i.e., multiple linear regression was used. Anthropometry, behaviour (healthy eating and food focus), attitude and nutritional knowledge were used as dependent variables. In order to better account for control variables, such as sample size and study length, a dummy variable was introduced for study length of one year and more; and a logarithm of the sample size was used instead of the actual sample size to eliminate scaling effects. We grouped countries by continents (while splitting Europe into North and South as there were enough studies and no countries in between) and introduced related dummy variables. The remaining variables were used as independent variables without any additional manipulations.

Since the aim was to create models consisting only of independent variables that significantly influence the dependent variables, we used the backwards function. Because there were too many independent variables for the backwards function for the attitude model (with only eight observations), the stepwise function was used instead.

Information and teaching was present in all but one study. Free food was found only in two studies and focus on fruit and vegetables in three studies. Therefore, it is not surprising that neither of the three variables were found to be significant in any of the models.

2.7. Study Sample

The search strategy resulted in 1826 titles which were screened for duplicates and potential relevance. After this initial screening, 345 titles and abstracts were assessed against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles that studied school interventions after school hours were excluded. In addition, articles which studied interventions among children in out of school context such as at community level were excluded. The justification is that both “after school” and “out of school” since can be regarded as non-typical school environments. We aimed to study the “school” as an artefact that can be considered as a “standard” across countries despite some national differences. For both “after school” and “out of school”, we argue that there are considerable differences among countries and that an inclusion of such studies would negatively influence our analytical approach. In total, 42 articles were identified as relevant and full papers were obtained as the final sample. Figure 2 below illustrates the search terms and selection process of articles.

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Review flow chart. The figure shows the progress of the literature review process following the PRISMA 2009 approach.

2.8. Intervention Study Characteristics

For all 43 items in our sample, Table 2 provides the information about the study, intervention methodologies, characteristics strategies, etc. In our extract of studies, the sample size ranged from 65-2997 subjects/participants, and the intervention duration ranged from 1 and half month to 36 months. The systematic review locations identified by the author were: 26 from Europe [ 21 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 44 , 46 , 49 , 52 , 54 , 57 , 58 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ], six from Asia [ 35 , 42 , 48 , 59 , 60 , 62 ], 10 from America [ 37 , 41 , 43 , 45 , 47 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 55 , 61 ] and one from Africa [ 56 ]. We categorized all interventions according to their intervention components. To this end, we had constructed three classes: Information and Teaching, Food Focus and Family/Social support as illustrated. The interventions characteristics of each included study are shown in Table 2 .

Of the total study sample, the majority of studies ( n = 41) involved “Information and Teaching” components consisting mainly of classroom-based activities (e.g., an adapted curriculum and distribution of educational materials, health and nutrition education program). Another 12 studies along with “Information and Teaching” involved a food focus and availability component. These food and availability components which consisted mainly of supervised school gardening, environmental modifications to stimulate a more healthful diet, such as increased availability and accessibility of healthy foods, distributions free food programmes, school provided free breakfast, school lunch modifications and incentives. Only two studies combined all the three intervention components of this study. Family/social support intervention was clearly focused on in nine study. In other studies, even though their interventions were not primarily or secondarily focused on family/social support component, they indirectly acknowledged the importance of parents and included them in their studies.

All of the reviewed studies included intervention components that were delivered in school settings and within school hours. Our sample showed that consumption of fruit and vegetables was the most used intervention component and was include in more than half of the interventions. Most studies were designed and carried in a way where a research assistant was trained by senior researchers/co-authors to ensure that each members of the research team followed same procedures for data collection. Since all studies were “in situ” studies included a close researcher/school staff cooperation component. In most of the listed studies, teachers being the responsible person to implement the interventions were trained beforehand.

2.9. Types of Interventions

Table 2 shows an overview of the programmes and their intervention components. From the table, it can be seen that studies differed according to how broadly they intervened. Some studies have included a narrow intervention (i.e., only one intervention components which targeted behavioural components), whereas others included multicomponent approaches where all three intervention components were used in the study.

Finding the right approach to intervening for healthier eating at school is a major challenge. In other words, which interventions create which impacts and how should the public best invest in new policies, strategies, and practices at school if long term health is the intended end point?

The purpose of this review was to compile the evidence regarding the effectiveness of successful school-based interventions in improving dietary behaviours, nutritional knowledge, attitudes and anthropometry among children. The analysis of the data showed a number of relationships between outcome effect and a number of other characteristics of the intervention (i.e., age, location/region, intervention type, duration). Descriptive statistics are provided in Table 4 .

Descriptive statistics.

The linear regression models carried out for each intervention component is added in the text and the tables have been referred to each associated result. Out of 42 studies, 36 studies reported the outcome on HE/FV behaviour scale while anthropometry and attitude impacts were observed in 18 and six studies, respectively. The item one of the results in this article presents the most general finding from the literature review, item two describes the variable found significant in two cases, while the remaining variables were significant in once case each. Additionally, item four, five and six are related “design” phenomena effects in the sense that they are not related to intervention components but to the study was designed your study. The rest is related to (intervention components rather than designs. In Table 5 , the outcome measures for which an effect could be seen has been listed. The linear regression model describing what influences the attitude is provided in Table 6 .

Linear regression model for attitude.

Linear regression model for anthropometry.

With regards to the explanatory power of the model, R 2 = 0.789, R 2 adj. = 0.719, and significance = 0.009.

The linear regression model describing what influences the anthropometry is provided in Table 6 .

With regards to the explanatory power of the model, R 2 = 0.683, R 2 adj. = 0.586, and significance = 0.003.

The linear regression model describing what influences the behaviour is provided in Table 7 .

Linear regression model for behaviour.

With regards to the explanatory power of the model, R 2 = 0.121, R 2 adj. = 0.096, and significance = 0.037.

An alternative linear regression model describing what influences the behaviour is provided in Table 8 .

Alternative linear regression model for behaviour.

With regards to the explanatory power of the model, R 2 = 0.449, R 2 adj. = 0.432, and significance < 0.001.

3.1. School-Based Interventions in General Create Impact

Looking across the whole study sample, it can be seen that in general the interventions created an impact in one or more ways either on knowledge, intentions, eating habits and/or anthropometry. In other words, it was hard to find studies that created no impact. This finding adds to the body of evidence that suggests that food-based interventions are a well-suited and effective policy tool when it comes to promoting healthier eating among young people.

3.2. Family Support Affects Healthier Eating Behaviour and Attitude

Out of all the included studies, nine studies focused on family support as an intervention component. But out of those, our analysis showed that the family involvement was impactful among participants when it comes to promoting healthier food choices. Parents being influencers and role models in the family in these studies seemed to help to influence children’s dietary habits. Studies which involved participants’ parents in the intervention and provided them with nutritional knowledge and healthy cooking skills (i.e., knowledge about the importance of healthy food and nutrition during the early age of their children), seemed to be able to help young people prepare more healthy and nutritious food at home. As studies showed, this seemed to increase children’s intentions towards eating more fruits and vegetables and eventually resulted in consumption of more healthy foods. However, this did not seem to be the case for all ages. Intention to eat more fruits and vegetables was seen among early age participants (EA) either alone or with family support. It should be noted that the regression models did not include interactions, since the number of analysed studies was only ~40. It was not possible to include age as a continuous variable in the models because (as it can be seen in Table 5 ) age was a range, and sometimes even a wide range, e.g., 8–11 or 4–11. Family support increases the outcome measure by approximately 1 in both cases. Please refer to Table 5 and Table 7 for detailed linear regression model used for attitude and behaviour.

3.3. Interventions Done in Northern Europe (7 Studies) Had a Smaller Impact on Behaviour than the Studies Conducted in the Rest of the World (22 Studies)

The results from the models which was created to measure the efficiency of HE/FV highlighted the fact that HE/FV scale depends only on region where the intervention was done. The behaviour outcome for Northern Europe was on average 1.5 while the average for the rest was 3.2 (please refer to Table 8 ).

3.4. Effect of Anthropometry Measures Increases with Study Power

The results suggested that the design of the study plays a role when it comes to be able to show impact of interventions. From the findings, it was clear that the anthropometry measured among the participants were increasing with the power of the study. That is, the stronger the design the greater the likelihood of being able to measure impact on anthropometric outcomes—a unit increase in the design power is associated with an outcome increase of approximately 1.5 (please refer to Table 6 ). To examine the influence of study design we used the score that was constructed for the purpose (please refer to Table 1 ). This score assigns a higher power to randomized designs than non-randomized ones.

3.5. Study Duration Impacts Anthropometric Outcomes

It was also clear that the intervention duration does have impact on the outcome, i.e., the longer the duration better the anthropometric results among the children. Interventions that lasted a year or more, had the outcome measure on average almost one unit higher than shorter studies (please refer to Table 6 ).

3.6. Larger Samples Impacts Anthropometry Measures

Results showed that anthropometric outcome decreased within the sample size. Increasing the sample size by a factor of 10, from approximately 100 to 1000, decreased the outcome measure by almost 2.5 (please refer to Table 6 ). Thus, bigger the sample size a reverse effect on outcome was obtained. The studies whose intervention was done for long period of time (i.e., couple of months or year and among small participants) were found to be effective in the outcome. It might be the case that it was hard to administer the same thing to large sample size post intervention and thus could have decreased the anthropometry outcome among the participants.

3.7. Food Availability Interventions Influence Anthropometric Outcomes

Our analyses showed that a food focus, specifically healthy meal availability had an impact on the children’s anthropometric outcomes—increasing it by almost 3.5 on average (please refer to Table 6 ).

3.8. Interventions among Younger Students Influence Attitude Among Participants

Results showed that the younger the study subjects were, the more influence interventions had on attitudes (the outcome was on average 0.75 higher than for other age groups). Thus, the result suggests that the participants’ attitude increases when they are in their early age (EA) i.e., 4–7 years old. Furthermore, results suggest that increased family support associated with participants’ attitude towards healthy eating helps in changing the behaviour among them. Early age (EA) and family support seemed to impact positively both alone and together. Meaning that the intervention had positive impacts on participants (i.e., EA participants) attitudes towards healthy eating either with the involvement of their family support or without the involvement of family support. Please refer to Table 5 for detail linear regression model for attitude.

3.9. No Effect of School Based Interventions on Nutritional Knowledge

Findings showed that nutritional knowledge among participants (i.e., of all age group) does not depend on school-based interventions. Thus, none of the collected variables have influences on nutritional knowledge.

4. Discussion

4.1. discussion of results of this review in relation to others.

In the discussion we aim to relate our findings with what has been found in previous studies, discuss our methodological approach and reflect on what are the policy implications. Since the discussion on how to counteract the unhealthy eating pattern and the worrying increase in nutrition related disorders among young people is attracting much attention and since the discussion on how the school could contribute we aim to give policy makers and practitioners an up to date insight into the potentials of the school to act as a hub for promotion of healthier eating and provide inspiration for the development of new types of school-based interventions and strategies.

The huge interest in using the infrastructure of the school to initiate and promote healthier eating among young people has resulted in a large number of interventions studies over the past decades. This research interest per definition as the same time creates a need for syntheses of the findings in order to make them feed into the public health and school policy cycle and to “send the results to work”. Taken the huge investment that better food at school strategies at school will cost for states it is worth appreciating that the Evidence-Informs-Policy pathway seems to be working. At the same time the conceptual approaches and the understanding of what intervention components might work better than others, which age groups might benefit the most etc. as developed considerably which again adds to the rationale for synthesis of intervention study findings. Most recent reviews by Julie et al. [ 76 ], Noguera el al. [ 77 ], Evans et al. [ 78 ], Cauwenberghe et al. [ 34 ] and Brown et al. [ 79 ] has created a time gap of almost five years. Covering the last five years of research our review makes a needed contribution and in addition we argue it makes a needed contribution to a standardization and conceptualization of both sampling and intervention design methodologies.

Overall, the findings from this review suggest that school-based interventions that include intervention components such as information and teaching, food focus and family support are effective in improving the HE/FV, anthropometric measurements and attitude towards healthy dietary behaviour among the participants. On the other hand, nutritional knowledge among participants did not seem to be influenced much by any of the intervention components used.

Impacts on HE/FV behaviours were observed, but mostly among early age children revealing a distinct age pattern in the findings. Thus, age was seen as a significant factor in determining effectiveness in several study [ 35 , 37 , 39 , 42 ]. Impact was greater on young children in the 4–7 year old age range, suggesting that dietary influences may vary with age.

Multicomponent approaches that includes good quality instruction and programs, a supportive social environment both at school and home, family support has been effective in addressing childhood related diseases through focusing on diet and physical activity. Most of the studies in this review implemented with combination of school staff and intervention specialists provide evidence for the effectiveness of the program. Thus, evidence supports that family involvement and nutrition education curriculum delivered by the teacher under supervision of intervention specialists can alter the intake of fruit and vegetables while impacting positively on anthropometric measurements. Teacher led interventions have been effective and can be the most sustainable approach for long term impact of the program. The same conclusion was found in a review done in investigating the effectiveness of school-based interventions in Europe which provided the effectiveness of multicomponent intervention promoting a healthy diet in school aged children in Europe [ 34 ].Studies with a food focus in their intervention approaches showed significant improvements in BMI [ 35 , 54 , 58 ]. Significant improvements in BMI here refers to the studies whose probability value was less or equal to 0.05. This means that the interventions in that case showed reduction in body mass of participants. We looked at studies whose aim was to focus on interventions of obesity prevention or reduction among primary school children’s. Thus, search term such as: “obesity prevention intervention among primary schools”, was used as explained in the methods section. When performing the search for school-based interventions we did not encounter any studies that were focusing on underweight. Making the options for healthy choices of food in the school cafeterias and having the option of free food from the school gardens decreases the sugar sweetened beverages and junk options among the children’s and thus resulting in improvements in BMI. This review evidence further highlights that duration of the intervention, i.e., a year or more has an impact on anthropometric measurements. This is in contrast to reviews of Julie et al. [ 76 ] and Cauwenberghe et al. [ 34 ] review that found that making the better options of food choices and duration of the studies were effective in reducing the sedentary behaviour and noting improvements in BMI. This study also found that larger sample sizes reverse the outcome of anthropometric measurements (i.e., sample size negatively influences the outcome). This might be the case because it might be harder to administer the same thing to more individual. Thus, more studies are needed to examine the effects of bigger sample sizes.

Our study is far from being the first to create overview of the large number of studies that are studying interventions that can promote healthier eating habits and that can counteract the worrying increase in obesity and overweight among young people the general. The huge interest is reflected in the number of studies trying to assess the impact and effectiveness of school-based interventions as well as in the number of reviews aiming to synthesize the findings from the growing body of evidence of the effect of school-based food interventions into actionable school food policies. Our study adds to this body of knowledge and fills a gap since our study looks at the most recent studies.

Comparing our review with others we find that the majority of the studies on school food-based interventions have been conducted in high income countries. This is also the case in our study and this fact is important to keep in mind since it introduces a bias in the insight created from school food effectiveness reviews. It is also important to keep in mind that studies—and as a result also reviews-covers different types of school food cultures. These cultures can roughly be divided in collective, semi collective and non-collective types. In the collective type found in countries such as Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Brazil school food provision is an integrated—and mainly free—part of the school day. In semi-collective approaches food is in most cases traditionally a part of what is offered at school, but due to payment. In the non-collective approach found in countries such as Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands there is little infrastructure and tradition for school organized foodservice. In this approach parents organized lunch boxes as well as competitive foods traditionally play a bigger role.

A further important note to make is the distinction between narrow F & V approaches and broader healthier eating intervention approaches. This classification can also be seen in previous studies and in more recent reviews. The first type of interventions that follow the six-a-day tradition that to some extent has been fuelled by the European School Fruit program introduced by the EU in 2009 was reviewed by Noguera et al. [ 77 ] and by Evans et al. [ 78 ]. In a study by Noguera el al. [ 77 ] a meta-analysis on F&V interventions was done but limited to educational interventions in the sense that it only looked at computer-based interventions and covering mostly European research. The study showed that this targeted but narrowed approach was effective in increasing FV consumption but that broader multicomponent types of interventions including free/subsidized FV interventions were not effective. In the review paper from 2012 by Evans et al. [ 78 ] examined studies done in United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands. Evans and co-workers [ 78 ] found that school-based interventions were able to moderately improve fruit intake but that they had only minimal impact on vegetable intake. These reviews and previous ones generally conclude that F&V targeted interventions are able to improve young people’s eating patterns towards higher intake of fruit.

In the category of reviews taking a broader approach to healthier lifestyle promotion we find studies and reviews that looks at promotion of healthier eating in general—and that in some cases include physical activity. A review by Julie et al. [ 76 ] covered studies from United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands. This review also included physical activity as part of broader school-based obesity prevention interventions. In particular, interventions should focus on extending physical education classes, incorporating activity breaks, and reducing sedentary behaviours to improve anthropometric measures. Julie et al. concluded that interventions taking a broader approach should include employing a combination of school staff and intervention specialists to implement programs; that they should include psychosocial/psychoeducational components; involve peer leaders; use incentives to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and should involve family. In a study by Cauwenberghe et al. [ 34 ] intervention studies done in a European union studies were reviewed. This review—as our study do—made an age distinction in the sense that a categorization was done between children and adolescents. Among children the authors found a strong evidence of effect for multicomponent interventions on fruit and vegetable intake. For educational type of interventions Cauwenberghe et al. [ 34 ] found limited evidence of effect as found when looking at behaviour and fruit and vegetable intakes. The study found limited evidence on effectiveness of interventions that specifically targeted children from lower socio-economic status groups. For adolescents Cauwenberghe et al. [ 34 ] found moderate evidence of effect was found for educational interventions on behaviour and limited evidence of effect for multicomponent programmes on behaviour. In the same way as our review authors distinguished between behaviour and anthropometrics and found that effects on anthropometrics were often not measured in their sample. Therefore, evidence was lacking and resulted in inconclusive evidence. Cauwenberghe et al. [ 34 ] concluded that there was evidence was found for the effectiveness of especially multicomponent interventions promoting a healthy diet but that evidence for effectiveness on anthropometrical obesity-related measures was lacking. In a review by Brown et al. [ 79 ] studies mostly from Europe but also covering United States, New Zealand, Canada and Chile it was found that intervention components most likely to influence BMI positively included increased physical activity, decreased sugar sweetened beverages intake, and increased fruit intake.

Our review adds to the increasing support for the idea that school should play a role in promoting healthier eating habits among young people. As such the school can be seen as an important actor when it comes to the promotion of human rights. In particular; the right to adequate food, the right to the highest attainable standard of health and right to the education, school plays an integral part which has also been highlighted in the “United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition” new statement for school-based and nutrition interventions [ 25 ]. Furthermore, Mikkelsen and colleagues [ 80 ] in their study have also suggested the fact that the international framework of human rights should invoke its strategies, policies, and regulations in the context of school and that national, regional, and local level actors has important roles to play. Additionally, they have highlighted that ensuring healthy eating in school environment can be a good investment in children short- and long-term health and education achievements. Thus, schools, as a system have the potential to make lasting improvements in students nutrition both in terms of quality and quantity and simultaneously contribute to realization of human rights around the globe [ 25 ].

4.2. Discussion of Methods

Strengths and limitations.

All attempts to reduce complexity of research studies in a research field suffers from in built weaknesses. Standardising the work of others in attempts to make generalizations is always difficult. As per definition a review includes attempts to standardize its study material in order to create an overview of “what works” and what “this that works” depends on. For obvious reasons research protocols depends very much on the context of the study: What is doable in one study setting on one country might not work on other settings. Additionally, reporting procedures vary among authors. The aim of a review is to standardize this heterogeneity to something that is homogenous and computable. So, in our case our constructs represent an attempt to make different studies with similar but slightly different approaches and methodologies comparable by making them computable. This has obviously some disadvantages.

Another limitation is that our review restricted itself to cover only published English language articles. Therefore, publication bias cannot be excluded, as it is possible that the inclusion of unpublished articles written in other languages than English will have affected the results of this review. Second, most of the studies included in the present were carried out in countries from Southern and Northern parts of Europe. This raises questions about the generalisability of these results to other countries in Europe, especially because contextual variables were often lacking in the included studies. And the same questions about the generalisability could be raise in other parts of the world i.e., in Latin America, North America, Asia and Africa, as very few studies were reported from this part of the world.

On the other hand, large dropouts were reported in many listed studies and the study follow up were reported in few studies and was for short time period. Among these studies which did follow up, was right after the end of the intervention period and thus this could have affected the effectiveness among this study outcomes. Long-term follows-up post-interventions would help to study the retention of behaviour change and effect on the body composition among the participants. Thus, long terms studies post interventions are needed to draw the conclusion about the sustainability of an intervention. Additionally, in future studies to improve the quality of the evidence of effectiveness in this kind of interventions, studies with high quality, rigorous design, appropriate sample size, post interventions long term follow up, assessment of implementation issues and cost effectiveness of the intervention should be executed.

On the strength side the standardisation approach helps to find patterns and to create overview of a large material within a given field of research. The strength of this study is that it provides a broad up to date overview of what is known about the relationship between school-based intervention and policies and healthy eating outcomes among children and that it contributes to the deeper understanding of the fact that current research findings are quite limited. This is among the very few recent reviews which evaluated the effect of school-based food at nutrition interventions among children only. A systematic review approach of this study attempted efficiently to integrate existing information and provide data for researchers’ rationale in the decision making of future research. Furthermore, the applied explicit methods used in this limited bias and, contributed to improved reliability and accuracy of drawn conclusions. Other advantages are that this study looks specifically at the evidence available in Northern and Southern Europe. Statistical analyses of pooled data have facilitated a more through synthesis of the result is one of the biggest strengths of this study.

4.3. Policy Implications

The evidence of the impact of school intervention derived from our review suggests several topics to be dealt with in future research not only in Europe but also the other part of the world. First, this review highlights the need for researchers to recognize the importance of further investigations on the measures of anthropometrics, nutritional knowledge, and attitude. Among these 42 studies carried out in different regions very few looked upon the effects on participants’ attitudes and anthropometrics measures. And of those showed positive impact if family support was provided, if started at early age and lastly if food focus was part of the intervention. Additionally, most of the included studies were not aiming to contribute to obesity prevention. Thus, it is highly recommendable that there is urgent need for more studies to be done that includes more measures of efficiency of participants’ attitude towards the healthy behaviour and healthy lifestyle and measures for anthropometrics. Second, to increase the comparability between studies and to facilitate the assessment of effectiveness, more agreement is needed for best measures of the diet and questionnaires. Third, more research is needed to be done among specific groups like low socio-economic group, immigrants or minorities. As mention earlier, only few listed studies included this specific group in their studies. Furthermore, evidence suggest that health inequalities such as prevalence of overweight are as a result of dietary habits and ethnicity and socio-economic status are identified as determinants of health eating. Thus, future research should not exclude these specific groups as European countries have become ethnically diverse.

To improve or decrease childhood diseases such as overweight and obesity and other aspects of health, many policy documents have been calling for the development of the effective strategies among children’s and adolescents. Even though the limited to moderate impact and evidence was found among these school-based interventions, it should be noted that interventions were not primarily targeting obesity prevention but, in many cases, had a broader scope. Thus, in order to deliver these evidence-based recommendations to policy makers factors such as sustainability of intervention, context and cost effectiveness should be considered. Additionally, the policy makers should ensure school policies and the environment that encourage physical activity and a healthy diet.

5. Conclusions

Findings from this systematised review suggest that applying multicomponent interventions (environmental, educational, and physical strategies) along with parental involvement and of long-term initiatives may be promising for improving dietary habits and other childhood related diseases among primary school children. Despite being challenging to find experimental studies done in related fields, those studies found showed positive trend. Thus, to conclude, evidence of the effect was found among school-based food and nutrition initiatives among primary school children. However, to strengthen the perspectives of this study, further systematic review targeting the more long-term studies assessing the long-term sustainability of the interventions should be considered. Also, studies with goal to increase efficiency of anthropometric measurements in their future school-based interventions could include increasing PA, increasing fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing sedentary behaviour. This study has provided fundamentals background on which further research could be done in this area of school-based food and nutrition interventions. Thus, the findings from this systematic review can be used as guidelines for future interventions in school settings related to food and nutrition. Also, the categorization of intervention components we see as useful for the planning of future interventions.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.E.M. and A.C.; methodology, B.E.M., A.C. and F.S.; validation B.E.M.; formal analysis, F.S.; investigation, A.C.; resources B.E.M. and A.C.; data curation, A.C. and F.S.; writing—original draft preparation, B.E.M., A.C. and F.S.; writing—review and editing, B.E.M., A.C. and F.S.; project administration, B.E.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

IELTS Essay Band 9: Higher taxes on unhealthy foods

Some people argue that the government should impose higher taxes on unhealthy foods to encourage healthier eating habits, while others believe that individuals should have the freedom to choose what they eat.

What is your opinion?

Task Achievement

This is a well-written essay that clearly addresses the question and presents a balanced argument. The writer has done a good job of presenting both sides of the argument and has given a clear opinion. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, and the essay is logically structured. However, the writer could improve the essay by providing more specific examples or evidence to support the points made.

Provide more specific examples or evidence to support the points made.
Include more detailed discussion on the potential impact of higher taxes on low-income individuals.
Discuss more about the role of education and awareness programs in promoting healthier eating habits.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

You have done an excellent job in terms of Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Your essay is free from significant grammatical errors, and you have used a variety of sentence structures effectively. Your punctuation is also well managed. However, to further improve, you could try to incorporate more varied sentence structures and verb tenses. Keep up the good work!

The essay is already well-written, but to further extend the grammatical range, the writer could incorporate more varied sentence structures, such as more complex sentences or compound-complex sentences.
The writer could also use more varied verb tenses and moods, such as the subjunctive or future perfect.
The use of more advanced vocabulary and idiomatic expressions could also enhance the grammatical range.

Coherence and Cohesion

You have written a well-structured and coherent essay. Your ideas are logically organized and the progression of your argument is easy to follow. You have effectively used a variety of cohesive devices to link your ideas and paragraphs. However, there is room for improvement. Consider stating your opinion directly in the introduction and providing more specific examples or evidence in the body paragraphs. Also, try to summarize your main points more succinctly in the conclusion. Keep practicing and you will continue to improve.

Consider stating your opinion directly in the introduction to guide the reader's understanding from the beginning.
Provide more specific examples or evidence in the body paragraphs to support your arguments.
Summarize the main points more succinctly in the conclusion to reinforce your argument.
Use a wider range of cohesive devices to enhance the flow and coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource

You have demonstrated a strong command of vocabulary in this essay. Your word choice is precise and appropriate, and you have used a wide range of vocabulary to express your ideas. You have also shown flexibility in your use of language, using a variety of words and phrases to express the same idea. There are no errors in word formation or word choice, and your vocabulary is not dependent on the vocabulary of the question. Keep up the good work!

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Student Opinion

Should Schools Serve Healthier Meals if It Changes Students’ Favorite Foods?

New federal rules will require school cafeterias to reduce the amount of salt and sugar in the foods they serve. Do you think students will embrace the changes?

By Shannon Doyne

Do you eat breakfast, lunch or snacks from your school’s cafeteria? If so, what do you eat? What are your favorite foods? How nutritious do you think your choices are?

New federal regulations on salt (or sodium) and sugar are coming to school cafeterias. Do you think they will change your favorite foods? Will they affect what and how much students eat at school?

In “ With New Salt and Sugar Limits, School Cafeterias Are ‘Cringing ,’” Julie Creswell writes about a debate over the new rules:

Around 11:40 on a cool spring day in early April, students began to stream into the lunchroom at Haleyville High School in Alabama. Cheerleaders, soccer and baseball players, and other members of the student body filed through the lunch line and sat at their tables. They chatted and laughed about upcoming games (go, Roaring Lions!) and prom as they dug into plates of chicken Alfredo, green beans and salad. Emma Anne Hallman, standing in a corner, watched the teenagers carefully. As the child nutrition director for the Haleyville City School District, she has the job of feeding 1,600 students, in prekindergarten through 12th grade. For months, Ms. Hallman and other heads of school lunch programs have worried about new federal regulations that would reduce allowable sodium levels and introduce new sugar restrictions for foods served in school cafeterias. A debate has raged, with many parents and nutritionists applauding efforts to make lunches more nutritious while some school lunch administrators fretted that the results will be less tasty to students, reducing consumption and increasing waste. “We are cringing, as it could result in changes across our menus,” Ms. Hallman said. “We would have to look at the sodium amounts in the recipes of some of our students’ favorite foods, like chicken wings, hot wings or even some of the Asian foods.”

The article continues:

While far from perfect (cafeterias serve plenty of processed foods), school lunches are arguably much healthier than they were a few years ago, thanks to a signature program geared toward combating childhood obesity and championed by Michelle Obama when she was first lady. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed in 2010, required schools to reduce the calories, fat and sodium in foods served in cafeterias and to increase offerings of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nonfat milk. The new regulations drew sharp criticism, however, and the Trump administration rolled back some of them, such as a prohibition on 1 percent chocolate milk. But last year, the Biden administration proposed updates that would gradually limit salt and sugar in school lunch foods in an attempt to meet federal dietary standards . On Wednesday, the Agriculture Department made the new rules final after scaling back several provisions in the earlier proposal and shifting the start dates. Instead of gradually cutting sodium in lunch foods by a third from current levels by the fall of 2029, school cafeterias will have to cut sodium levels 15 percent by the 2027-28 academic year. And for the first time, schools will need to limit the amount of added sugars in cereals and yogurts, starting in the 2025-26 academic year. Standing in a Haleyville School District pantry a few weeks ago, Ms. Hallman nodded to boxes containing cups of Cocoa Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. They contain less sugar than the cereals that are bought from grocery stores and poured into bowls at home. Still, she said many of these foods would most likely be affected by the new rules and have to be reworked by the manufacturer. The label of a Cocoa Puffs cereal bar, for instance, showed it had eight grams of added sugar, while a frosted strawberry Pop-Tart had 14 grams. “Breakfast, particularly grab-and-go options, is going to be tricky,” Ms. Hallman said. “The changes could affect how many times a week we can offer certain items with sugar to the students.” Many nutritionists and health-policy watchdog groups say the new rules on sodium and sugar are important, with so many children struggling to have or make nutritious choices outside school.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

Before reading the article, were you aware that public schools must meet nutritional standards set by the federal government? Do you think these rules are reflected in what meals get served, how often certain items appear on the menu, or what foods can be served together at your school?

What, if anything, surprised you about the challenges schools face when it comes to serving food? Does it make you see school lunch differently?

Do you think the people who prepare school meals are right to fear that the new rules will require them to change or discontinue some of the students’ favorite items? Or will students embrace healthier meals at school?

What do you notice about the foods served at your school? Do students tend to eat healthy most days? Are the most popular items high in sugar or sodium?

Now think about what gets thrown out in cafeteria trash cans. Is food waste a serious issue at your school? If so, what can be done to help?

If students are less likely to eat foods that are low in salt and sugar — and perhaps less tasty — is it still worth it to make school lunches healthier? Why or why not?

Do students at your school have a say in what the cafeteria serves? If menus were created by students, what do you think would change and why?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Flannels or FlipFlops

15 Unhealthy Foods Americans Should Stop Eating (and Why)

Posted: March 6, 2024 | Last updated: March 6, 2024

<p>Chomping food like your car is being towed leads to undigested stress; enter <a href="https://frenzhub.com/things-the-worlds-healthiest-people-share/" rel="noopener"><strong>mindful eating</strong></a>. Savor each bite, chew slowly, and be deliberate about the energy you’re consuming. Who knew that a minor mastication change could lead to significant mental tranquility?</p>

In order to achieve a healthier lifestyle, it is essential to know which foods to avoid as much as it is to know which foods to consume. Unfortunately, many of the foods that have become a regular part of the American diet are contributing to a range of health issues.

Here are 15 unhealthy foods commonly consumed in the United States, along with why they should be limited or eliminated from your diet.

Processed Meats

According to the World Health Organization, processed meats such as ham, bacon, salami, and frankfurters are classified as Group One carcinogens. Consuming them is strongly linked to an increased risk of bowel and stomach cancer.

<p><span>Oh, the irony! The ‘diet’ in your soda might not favor your waistline. Hint: Artificial sweeteners are not the fairy godmothers they pretend to be. </span></p>

A study examining the diets of 15,368 individuals revealed a correlation between the consumption of diet soda and the heightened risk of developing end-stage kidney disease. The risk escalated in tandem with the number of weekly diet soda servings.

<p><span>Research indicates that frozen meals may carry health risks from high sodium levels and bacteria. While frozen fruits and veggies are usually safe, concerns arise with dinners like fried chicken and large meat portions, which increase sodium intake. Freezing slows microorganism growth but doesn’t remove them entirely, potentially posing health hazards.</span></p>

Frozen Dinners and Meals

Research indicates that frozen meals may carry health risks from high sodium levels and bacteria. While frozen fruits and veggies are usually safe, concerns arise with dinners like fried chicken and large meat portions, which increase sodium intake. Freezing slows microorganism growth but doesn’t remove them entirely, potentially posing health hazards.

<p><span>Long-term consumption of </span><a href="https://frenzhub.com/worst-foods-for-people-over-40/"><span>junk food</span></a><span> can result in various health issues, including type 2 diabetes, heart-related problems such as cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight, and obesity.</span></p>

Long-term consumption of junk food can result in various health issues, including type 2 diabetes, heart-related problems such as cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight, and obesity.

<p>The bags’ lining can contain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) that can leach into the popcorn, and the butter flavoring often contains diacetyl, which can lead to bronchiolitis obliterans, or “popcorn lung.”</p><p>A study by the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2016-111/default.html" rel="noopener">National Institutes of Health</a> warned about the dangers of consuming diacetyl, calling it an “inhalation hazard” for microwave popcorn factory workers. Limit to a serving (one cup popped) every two weeks. A fun movie night alternative? Try air-popped corn with a sprinkle of your favorite herbs for flavor.</p>

Microwave Popcorn with Artificial Butter

Microwave popcorn with artificial butter flavoring contains harmful chemicals like diacetyl and PFCs, which are linked to health risks, including lung diseases and cancer.

<p>Many people turn to artificial sweeteners to cut calories, but these substitutes don’t come without a cost. Some studies suggest they can increase preference for sweet tastes, which may lead to overeating sweet foods. A study in JAMA found a link between consuming artificial sweeteners and a higher risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.</p><p>The key is moderation. Limit intake to only a few packets daily. You can also use natural sweeteners like stevia or small portions of pure honey or maple syrup as safer substitutes. Alternatively, you can gradually reduce sugar intake to adapt to a less-sweet diet.</p>

Artificially Flavored Snacks

These snacks may contain synthetic ingredients imitating natural flavors, disrupting metabolism and linking to health issues. The Journal of Nutrition states these additives can lead to weight gain, hormonal imbalance, and increased disease risks.

<p><span>Researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Southern California discovered that countries using high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in their food had a 20% higher diabetes rate than those not using HFCS. The analysis revealed a clear link between HFCS and rising diabetes rates, regardless of overall sugar availability and obesity levels.</span></p>

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Southern California discovered that countries using high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in their food had a 20% higher diabetes rate than those not using HFCS. The analysis revealed a clear link between HFCS and rising diabetes rates, regardless of overall sugar availability and obesity levels.

Vegetable Shortening

Dr. Axe explains that numerous processed vegetable shortening products contain hydrogenated oils and trans fats to enhance shelf life and affordability. Sadly, these fats are associated with various health issues, such as a higher likelihood of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke.

<p><span>According to the Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas, creamers often have trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils, which can raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, increasing heart disease risk. They also contain high sugar, artificial sweeteners, and chemical additives, contributing to inflammation and health problems. </span></p>

Non-Dairy Coffee Creamer

According to the Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas, creamers often have trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils, which can raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, increasing heart disease risk. They also contain high sugar, artificial sweeteners, and chemical additives, contributing to inflammation and health problems.

White Bread

White bread , with its high glycemic index, can cause blood sugar spikes, posing risks for diabetes. Made from refined flour lacking fiber and nutrients, it can impact digestion and lead to weight gain and high cholesterol. Health experts recommend choosing whole grain options for better health.

Instant Noodles

According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, consuming instant noodles on a regular basis can increase the likelihood of metabolic syndrome, which in turn elevates the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. Moreover, instant noodles are deficient in vital nutrients such as protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, making them a poor selection for maintaining a healthy diet.

Cereal Bars

Many store-bought cereal bars are high in added sugars and low in fiber, causing blood sugar spikes and raising the risk of type 2 diabetes. Some bars also contain preservatives and artificial additives that can harm health. Nutritionists suggest choosing bars with fewer processed ingredients, less sugar, and more fiber for a healthier snack option.

<p><span>Store-bought cookies are usually high in sugar and unhealthy fats, making them a calorie-dense food with minimal nutritional value. They’re often made with ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.</span></p><p><span>High fructose corn syrup and added sugars can lead to obesity and metabolic issues. Try baking your own cookies with healthier ingredients like whole wheat flour and dark chocolate chips.<br> </span></p>

Commercial Baked Goods

Commercial baked goods are often laden with unhealthy ingredients like refined sugars, trans fats, and additives, which can pose risks to heart health and overall well-being. To mitigate these health concerns, it is advised to opt for homemade alternatives .

<p><span>According to research, processed cheese is primarily utilized in </span><a href="https://www.flannelsorflipflops.com/25-foods-you-didnt-know-were-killing-your-metabolism/"><span>fast-food </span></a><span>establishments as a topping for various dishes. Regularly consuming processed cheese may result in weight gain and obesity due to its high-calorie content. Additionally, the elevated salt content in processed cheese can contribute to hypertension.</span></p>

Highly Processed Cheese Products

According to research, processed cheese is primarily utilized in fast-food establishments as a topping for various dishes. Regularly consuming processed cheese may result in weight gain and obesity due to its high-calorie content. Additionally, the elevated salt content in processed cheese can contribute to hypertension.

<p><span>Store-bought dressings often have artificial preservatives and additives to prolong shelf life, potentially harming gut health and metabolism. Nutritionists suggest homemade dressings with natural ingredients like olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and herbs for healthier salads without sacrificing taste or well-being.</span></p><p><b>Source:</b></p><p><a href="https://www.mamaoffive.com/unhealthy-foods-americans-should-stop-eating/"><b>Mama of Five</b></a></p><p><a href="https://www.holisticcenteratbristolsquare.com/wellness-articles/10-banned-foods-americans-should-stop-eating1/"><b>The Holistic Center</b></a></p>

Commercial Salad Dressings

Store-bought dressings often have artificial preservatives and additives to prolong shelf life, potentially harming gut health and metabolism. Nutritionists suggest homemade dressings with natural ingredients like olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and herbs for healthier salads without sacrificing taste or well-being.

Mama of Five

The Holistic Center

10 Foods You Are Eating That Are Shortening Your Lifespan

Are you familiar with the foods that should be avoided for the sake of your health?

10 Foods You Are Eating That are Shortening Your Lifespan

<p><span>Your brain is the control center of your body, and it needs premium fuel to function optimally. However, some daily foods may provide low-grade fuel.</span></p><p><a href="https://frenzhub.com/foods-you-are-eating-that-are-gradually-destroying-your-brain/"><b>13 Foods You Are Eating That Are Gradually Destroying Your Brain</b></a></p>

13 Foods You Are Eating That Are Gradually Destroying Your Brain

Your brain is the control center of your body, and it needs premium fuel to function optimally. However, some daily foods may provide low-grade fuel.

<p><span>Exploring food marketing complexities, we illuminate the benefits of ‘healthy’ products. We aim to demystify these items with clear nutritional facts for informed wellness choices.</span></p><p><a href="https://frenzhub.com/stupid-american-foods-nobody-wants-to-eat/"><b>15 Stupid American Foods Nobody Wants to Eat</b></a></p>

Stupid American Foods Nobody Wants to Eat

Exploring food marketing complexities, we illuminate the benefits of ‘healthy’ products. We aim to demystify these items with clear nutritional facts for informed wellness choices.

15 Stupid American Foods Nobody Wants to Eat

<p>That soda or sweetened iced tea might refresh you, but it’s also adding unnecessary sugars to your system. The high fructose corn syrup can increase fatty liver disease and alter metabolic function.</p><p>The American Heart Association recommends consuming an average of three cans of sugar-sweetened beverages (450 calories) per week. Some healthier alternatives include infused water with fruit slices or sparkling water with 100% fruit juice splash.</p>

11 Foods You Should Never Eat At Night

Eating the right foods at the right time is crucial for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. While all foods have their place in a balanced diet, certain ones can disrupt your sleep when eaten close to bedtime.

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Food and mood: how do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing?

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Mood and carbohydrates

Diet, immune activation, and depression

Brain, gut microbiome, and mood

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Dietary Consumption: Strategies for Healthy Eating Essay (Speech)

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Proteins and carbohydrates are essential for our bodies

Carbohydrates

It is imperative to avoid saturated fats and sugars

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Essays About Eating Healthy Foods: 7 Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

1. The Definitive Guide to Healthy Eating in Real Life By Jillian Kubala

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Promoting Healthy Eating among Young People—A Review of the Evidence of the Impact of School-Based Interventions

František Sudzina

Bent Egberg Mikkelsen

1. Introduction

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Literature Search

2.2. Inclusion Criteria

2.3. Age Range

2.4. Assessment of Study Eligibility

2.5. Analytical Approach

2.6. Queries Made

2.7. Study Sample

2.8. Intervention Study Characteristics

2.9. Types of Interventions

3.1. School-Based Interventions in General Create Impact

3.2. Family Support Affects Healthier Eating Behaviour and Attitude

3.3. Interventions Done in Northern Europe (7 Studies) Had a Smaller Impact on Behaviour than the Studies Conducted in the Rest of the World (22 Studies)

3.4. Effect of Anthropometry Measures Increases with Study Power

3.5. Study Duration Impacts Anthropometric Outcomes

3.6. Larger Samples Impacts Anthropometry Measures

3.7. Food Availability Interventions Influence Anthropometric Outcomes

3.8. Interventions among Younger Students Influence Attitude Among Participants