Does organic food intervention in school lead to change dietary patterns?

Summary

Now, more than ever, there are serious health concerns for obese and overweight children. All around us are unhealthy foods such as sweets, energy-dense convenience and fast foods. This makes it much harder to encourage children to stay in a healthy eating style. Schools are the perfect setting for children to learn, and this influence can play an important role in preventing children from becoming obese and overweight. The purpose of this research was to examine whether organic food intervention in school meals could help children establish healthy eating patterns. This was determined through the comparisons between the public organic food procurement policy based schools and non policy based schools. The study undertook surveys among school food coordinators in selected Danish and Norwegian primary schools through a web-based questionnaire. The data shows the relations regarding the school food service between different types of schools, and also based on the ways and methods of food provision. Results indicate that organic food intervention can be effective in preventing the development of obesity and overweight issues among the children in schools.