Selecting Policy Indicators and Developing Simulation Models for the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. Special Nutrition Programs.

摘要

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). It is required by law to update program meal patterns and nutrient standards to reflect the most current dietary guidance, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and USDA 2005), which incorporate the Dietary Reference Intakes and serve as a basis for the MyPyramid food guidance system (Guenther et al. 2007; USDA 2009). FNS requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) form an expert panel to recommend changes to the nutrient standards and menu-planning approaches used in the school meal programs since 1995. The panel has recently published its recommendations (IOM 2009b). While the panel was preparing that report, FNS also commissioned this study. This report describes work using nationally representative 2005 data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment-III (SNDA-III) study to develop a simulation model to predict the potential implications of changes in policies or practices related to school meals and school food environments. The model focuses on three domains of outcomes: (1) the nutritional quality of reimbursable meals as served to (or selected by) students in the NSLP and SBP, (2) the nutritional quality of the breakfasts and lunches consumed by children who participate in these programs, and (3) student participation rates. The model was intended to assist FNS in assessing the effects of the IOM panels recommendations and other possible changes in school meals and the school food environment.