What do children eat in the summer? A direct observation of summer day camps that serve meals

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Acad Nutr Diet
• Personal Author:
  Kenney, Erica L. ; Lee, Rebekka M. ; Brooks, Carolyn J. ; Cradock, Angie L. ; Gortmaker, Steven L.
• Description:
  Background
  
  Over 14 million children in the United States attend summer camp annually, yet little is known about the food environment in day camps.
  
  Objectives
  
  Describe the nutritional quality of meals served to, brought by, and consumed by children attending summer day camps serving meals and snacks; describe camp water access.
  
  Design
  
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  Participants/settings
  
  One hundred forty-nine children attending five summer camps in Boston, Massachusetts in 2013.
  
  Main outcome measures
  
  Foods and beverages served were observed for five consecutive days. For two days, children’s dietary intake was directly observed using a validated protocol. Outcome measures included total energy (kcals) and servings of different types of foods and beverages served and consumed during breakfast, lunch, and snack.
  
  Statistical analyses performed
  
  Mean total energy, trans fats, sodium, sugar, and fiber served per meal were calculated across the camps, as were average weekly frequencies of serving fruits, vegetables, meat/meat alternates, grains, milk, 100% juice, sugar-sweetened beverages, whole grains, red/highly processed meats, grain-based desserts, and salty snacks. Mean consumption was calculated per camper per day.
  
  Results
  
  On average, camps served 647.7 (SD: 134.3) kcals for lunch, 401.8 kcals (149.6) for breakfast, and 266.4 (SD: 150.8) kcals for snack. Most camps served red/highly processed meats, salty snacks, and grain-based desserts frequently, and rarely served vegetables or water. Children consumed little (for example, at lunch, 36.5% of fruit portions, 35.0% of meat/meat alternative portions, and 37.6% of milk portions served), except for salty snacks (66.9% of portions) and grain-based desserts (64.1% of portions). Sugar-sweetened beverages and salty snacks were frequently brought to camp. A quarter of campers drank nothing throughout the entire camp day.
  
  Conclusions
  
  The nutritional quality of foods and beverages served at summer day camps could be improved. Future studies should assess barriers to consumption of healthy foods and beverages in these settings.
• Subjects:
  • Beverages
  • Boston
  • Child
  • Child Day Care Centers
  • Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Dietary Fats
  • Dietary Fiber
  • Dietary Sucrose
  • Edible Grain
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Children
  • dietary intake
  • direct observation
  • summer camp
  • hydration
• Source:
  J Acad Nutr Diet. 117(7):1097-1103
• Pubmed ID:
  28330733
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5484720
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  T32 HL098048/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U48 DP001946/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U58 DP004726/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  117
• Issue:
  7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/46443/cdc_46443_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 85.59 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:e06ff6977e49546f48fdcecbe37701a5de2b8151f55ca1d52b586d3471d83ebc