Assessment of a Districtwide Policy on Availability of Competitive Beverages in Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts, 2013

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Mozaffarian, Rebecca S. ; Gortmaker, Steven L. ; Kenney, Erica L. ; Carter, Jill E. ; Howe, M. Caitlin Westfall ; Reiner, Jennifer F. ; Cradock, Angie L.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Competitive beverages are drinks sold outside of the federally reimbursable school meals program and include beverages sold in vending machines, a la carte lines, school stores, and snack bars. Competitive beverages include sugar-sweetened beverages, which are associated with overweight and obesity. We described competitive beverage availability 9 years after the introduction in 2004 of district-wide nutrition standards for competitive beverages sold in Boston Public Schools.
  
  Methods
  
  In 2013, we documented types of competitive beverages sold in 115 schools. We collected nutrient data to determine compliance with the standards. We evaluated the extent to which schools met the competitive-beverage standards and calculated the percentage of students who had access to beverages that met or did not meet the standards.
  
  Results
  
  Of 115 schools, 89.6% met the competitive beverage nutrition standards; 88.5% of elementary schools and 61.5% of middle schools did not sell competitive beverages. Nutrition standards were met in 79.2% of high schools; 37.5% did not sell any competitive beverages, and 41.7% sold only beverages meeting the standards. Overall, 85.5% of students attended schools meeting the standards. Only 4.0% of students had access to sugar-sweetened beverages.
  
  Conclusion
  
  A comprehensive, district-wide competitive beverage policy with implementation support can translate into a sustained healthful environment in public schools.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Beverages Carbonated Beverages Child Cross-Sectional Studies Female Food Dispensers, Automatic Food Services Humans Logistic Models Male Nutrition Policy Nutritive Sweeteners Nutritive Value Schools Special Topic Students

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 13.
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd13.150483
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  26940299
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4778379
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U48 DP001946/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States ; 1U48DP001946/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  Boston, MA
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  13
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b450b76565c4f21ab530112ea431505995824b3d332ebd34f0c3f22ab57eb4f8e1130734358dd480e52f5037c6c12e6d282883412c8771f80d40d024314ac756
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/38307/cdc_38307_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 305.92 KB ]