Table 2.
Means (standard deviations) for daily energy intake at school-provided meals by sex and race, and for each of six aspects of school-provided meals, by body mass index (BMI) quartilea, in a sample of 328 fourth-grade children observed eating a total of 1,178 school-provided meals (50% breakfast).
| BMI Quartile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | |
| Number of fourth-grade children | 82 | 82 | 82 | 82 |
| Daily energy intake at school- provided meals (in kcal) | ||||
| Females (n=166) | 767 (213) | 737 (254) | 828 (244) | 927 (214) |
| Males (n=162) | 859 (226) | 903 (242) | 929 (297) | 939 (257) |
| Black children (n=176) | 807 (245) | 780 (243) | 878 (303) | 952 (254) |
| White children (n=152) | 821 (212) | 882 (270) | 873 (240) | 895 (187) |
| Amounts eaten of standardized school-meal portionsb | 0.88 (0.19) | 0.89 (0.20) | 0.92 (0.19) | 0.93 (0.19) |
| Percentage of energy content given in food tradesc | 11.16 (21.85) | 8.43 (14.64) | 11.67 (26.19) | 6.60 (12.26) |
| Percentage of energy intake received in food tradesd | 14.73 (19.10) | 10.83 (16.77) | 15.13 (20.20) | 13.19 (18.21) |
| Percentage of energy intake from flavored milke | 16.72 (13.09) | 16.91 (12.96) | 16.28 (12.71) | 15.73 (10.84) |
| Percentage of energy intake from a la carte ice creamf | 6.06 (12.10) | 5.53 (11.49) | 3.99 (9.35) | 4.76 (9.89) |
| Breakfast typeg | ||||
| Number of cold | 58 | 51 | 46 | 53 |
| Number of hot | 87 | 97 | 101 | 96 |
For analyses, the dependent variable (BMI) was continuous but BMI quartiles were used in Table 2 for ease of presentation. Daily energy intake at school-provided meals was analyzed in units of 100 kilocalories (kcal) for ease of interpretation.
Observed amounts were quantified and multiplied by per-serving energy values of standardized school-meal portions.
The percentage of energy content given in food trades for a child on a particular school day was calculated as the number of kcals from items given away in food trades divided by the number of kcals from items on the school-meal trays, multiplied by 100.
The percentage of energy content received in food trades for a child on a particular school day was calculated as the number of kcals from items received in food trades divided by the number of kcals eaten at the school, multiplied by 100.
The percentage of energy intake from flavored milk for a child on a particular school day was calculated as the number of kcals from flavored milk divided by the number of kcals eaten at school meals, multiplied by 100.
The percentage of energy intake from a la carte ice cream for a child on a particular school day was calculated as the number of kcals from a la carte ice cream divided by the number of kcals eaten at the school meals, multiplied by 100.
Items recorded by observers at breakfast for the children observed were used to categorize breakfast type as cold (i.e., ready-to-eat cereal, graham or animal crackers, milk, and juice or fruit) or hot (e.g., sausage biscuit, milk, and juice).