Growing appetites: the impact of vegetable-rich school meals on child nutrition, cognition, and well-being

Abstract

Typical lunch meals consumed by Dutch children fall short of national dietary guidelines. The average vegetable intake during lunch is around 8 g, contributing to inadequate overall vegetable consumption in over half of children under 12. A school-based lunch programme offering vegetable-rich meals may improve vegetable intake and potentially lead to other benefits. In the current controlled quasi-experimental study, such programme was assessed. Children aged 7-13 years at three primary schools received lunch on 3 school days per week, while three other schools served as controls. Pre- and post-intervention assessments measured cognition, well-being, food neophobia, food literacy, and skin carotenoid status using the Veggie Meter (VM). Post intervention, meal liking was assessed. 2 x 2 mixed ANOVAs were run (group x time). No significant differences were observed between groups and over time for any of the variables, but a decrease in food neophobia over time in the control group, but not in the intervention group, was observed. Exploratory analyses revealed positive associations between VM score and well-being, and between meal liking and VM score, while meal liking was negatively associated with food neophobia. Insufficient meal consumption, driven by low meal acceptance, social dynamics, and cultural unfamiliarity with warm lunches at school, is the most plausible explanation for the absence of effects. Future school meal programmes in the Netherlands should focus on gradual familiarisation with new meal formats before meaningful effects on dietary intake, cognition, and well-being can be expected.