Shorter Lunch Periods May Lead To Less Healthy Food Options

Lunch time is an important period to relax and take in some nutritious food. Yet recent findings published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reveal that eating shorter lunch periods can impact whether students make healthier choices.

In this recent study, researchers at Harvard University found that students with less than 20 minutes to eat their lunches consumed significantly less of their entrees, milk and/or vegetables than those who did not feel rushed with more time.

"Many children, especially those from low-income families, rely on school meals for up to half their daily energy intake so it is essential that we give students a sufficient amount of time to eat their lunches," Juliana Cohen, lead author of the study and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School, said in a statement.

During the study, they collected data from over 1,000 students attending six elementary and middle schools with lunch periods ranging from 20 to 30 minutes. Many of the participants were also living in low-income urban school districts in Massachusetts. The researchers studied their food selection and consumption by monitoring what was left on their plates at the end of the lunch period.

Findings revealed that the students with less than 20 minutes to eat were less likely to consume something filling. Furthermore, researchers found that they consumed less than 13 percent of their entrees, 12 percent less of their vegetables and 10 percent less of their milk than those who had at least 25 minutes to eat.

Researchers also found that there was more food waste among groups with less time to eat.

Waiting in serving lines or arriving late to lunch sometimes left children in the study with as little as 10 minutes to actually sit and eat. The researchers acknowledged that while not all schools may be able to lengthen their lunch periods, they could develop strategies to move kids more quickly through lunch lines, such as by adding more serving lines or setting up automated checkout systems.

"We were surprised by some of the results because I expected that with less time children may quickly eat their entrée and drink their milk but throw away all of their fruits and vegetables," Eric Rimm, senior author of the study, concluded. "Not so--we found they got a start on everything, but couldn't come close to finishing with less time to eat."

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