Educational-Setting Feeding Interventions and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Sustainable and regulated educational-setting food interventions may support regular and appropriate nutritional intake, resulting in positive health outcomes.

The aim of this review was to assess the strength of associations between educational-setting food interventions and health outcomes among students.

The PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched systematically for studies that investigated the association on educational-setting feeding intervention and health outcomes. Students receiving vs those not receiving educational-setting feeding interventions were eligible.

We extracted data on study characteristics, participants, feeding interventions, and health outcomes.

Outcomes were aggregated and reported as mean difference (MD) or event rate (ER), along with 95% CIs, using a 1-stage approach and a random-effects model. We included 91 studies with a total of 47 241 students, of whom 25 220 received an educational-setting feeding intervention. Meta-analysis results indicated a significant association between educational-setting feeding intervention and higher hemoglobin (MD = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.73-0.88), body iron (MD = 1.60; 95% CI, 0.15-3.05), vitamin D (MD = 8.63; 95% CI, 6.46-10.81), zinc (MD = 1.19; 95% CI, 0.17-2.20), and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) (MD = -0.79; 95% CI, -1.42 to -0.15). Positive significant associations were also found for anthropometric parameters, including height, weight for age, height for age, and body mass index. No significant association with cognition was detected (MD = 1.27; 95% CI, -26 to 3.81).

This work enhances the crucial role of educational-setting feeding interventions, highlighting their association with multiple health outcomes, and draws attention to the importance of integrated approaches to achieve better and more sustainable results.

PROSPERO registration No. CRD420251027958.