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Diet Quality in Early Care and Education Centers: A Comparison of Menu, Served, and Consumed Lunch Measures
Elizabeth N Kroeger1, Jose Fernandez1, Peter Jones2
1Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL.
Objective:
Assess if diet quality (DQ) differs among 3 lunch measures commonly used to assess DQ in early care and education (ECE) centers, which include what is listed on the menu, served, and consumed.
Design:
This quantitative observational study measured DQ of food and beverage items listed on the menu, what children were served, and what they consumed during one lunch meal.
Setting:
Alabama ECE centers.
Participants:
ECE centers (n = 28) with attendance of ≥10 children ages 3 to 5 years and provided lunch daily.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
DQ measured through Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI) scores, which were calculated for the menu, served, and consumed lunch measures.
Analysis:
Menu, served, and consumed HEI scores compared using either Kruskal-Wallis or ANOVA. Dunn Bonferroni or Duncan post hoc tests identified which group differed.
Results:
Total HEI scores were significantly higher among menus, compared with served and consumed (P = .001). Served and consumed total HEI scores were not different.
Conclusions And Implications:
Menu DQ differed from both the served and consumed lunch measures. These findings support the need for nutrition education on the importance of menu adherence in ECE centers.
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