When school cafeteria food looks good,it suddenly tastes good

Students eat lunch during the summer program at Jefferson Elementary School in Sanger, California, June 26, 2013.

Photo: AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka

To get children to eat healthier in school, hire a trained chef, a new study found.

When the cooks prepared a tasty lunch, children ate more fruits and vegetables.

Getting them to drink plain milk instead of chocolate milk was a bigger challenge.

In the study, researchers at Harvard University studied the eating habits of more than 2,600

students in the third through sixth grades. The students attended schools in poorer areas.

Most of the children were Hispanic and their average age was 11 1/2.

Eat More, Throw Away Less

Trained chefs were randomly assigned to some schools to prepare tasty lunches with low-

fat, low-salt recipes. In some schools, the project also experimented with how the food was

presented to the children in the food line.

By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.31.15

Word Count 650

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1

The researchers weighed the amount of food the students took. They also weighed the

food left over on their plates when the kids were finished eating. The food was collected

before children tossed it into the trash.

Not surprisingly, when children were offered sauteed broccoli in garlic and olive oil or

vegetable soup, they ate more, said Juliana Cohen. She is a researcher in Harvard's

nutrition department. Also, the study found that schools ended up saving money.

The study was released online Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, a magazine for doctors and

health professionals.

"What this study is showing is that this is an effective method to reduce plate waste,"

Cohen said. Plate waste is the uneaten food left over after lunch. Children "are going to like

the foods and they're going to eat the foods," Cohen said.

This is no small matter. As the study points out, 30 million children eat meals at school

each day and it matters what they eat. Many of them rely on those meals for as much as

half of their calories.

No Junk Food For Lunch

The study said that eating junk food for lunch leads to children becoming overweight or

even obese — overweight to the point of causing health problems. Nearly one-third of

children in the United States are overweight or obese. Too much body fat is unhealthy.

Being obese can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

"When choosing what to eat, children are particularly influenced by the environment in

which food is presented," it said.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have focused on healthy school

lunches.

Looks Good And Tastes Good

In the study, researchers found that kids ate about the same amount of the main course as

before. That didn't bother the researchers, since the chefs were cooking healthier meals.

After three months, the researchers did not see much change. The students still were not

choosing more fruits and vegetables prepared by the chefs. However, after seven months

students began taking more fruits and vegetables. They also chose more fruit when it was

displayed more attractively in the lunch line and placed where students could easily see it.

When the food tasted and looked better, the amount of fruits and vegetables the kids ate

went up.

"We didn't see the increase in consumption immediately," Cohen said. "Schools shouldn't

abandon healthy foods if students don't instantly" go for it.

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Got Plain Milk?

The experiment's only failure came when the researchers pushed plain milk. To persuade

children to choose it over chocolate milk, researchers put the plain milk where kids could

more easily see it. That just did not work. Cohen said that if schools want children to drink

more plain milk, they might have to remove chocolate milk from cafeterias.

Trained chefs can be expensive. However, Cohen said that they actually saved money for

the districts in the study. The chefs go to cooking school to learn tasty recipes and how to

display food nicely. Also, chefs who have worked in restaurants know how much food to

order and how avoid waste. This cut down on costs for the districts.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3

Quiz

1 Which paragraph from the section "No Junk Food For Lunch" gives key details that describe

how eating unhealthy lunches is linked to health problems?

2 Which of the following is a summary of the article?

(A) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, they ate more and wasted less.

(B) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, only healthy students ate more

and wasted less.

(C) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, only unhealthy students ate more

and wasted less.

(D) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, it made no difference.

3 Read these two sentences.

This is no small matter. As the study points out, 30 million children eat

meals at school each day and it matters what they eat.

How does the meaning of "matter" and "matters" change?

(A) In the first sentence, matter means "is important." In the second sentence,

matters means "issue."

(B) In the first sentence, matter means "issue." In the second sentence, matters

means "is important."

(C) In the first sentence, matter means "issue." In the second sentence, matters

means "is not important."

(D) In the first sentence, matter means "is important." In the second sentence,

matters means "is a large amount."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4

4 Read the following paragraph.

In the study, researchers found that kids ate about the same amount of

the main course as before. That didn't bother the researchers, since

the chefs were cooking healthier meals.

Which answer choice has the SAME meaning as the second sentence in the paragraph

above?

(A) That didn't anger the researchers, since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

(B) That didn't frustrate the researchers since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

(C) That didn't concern the researchers, since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

(D) That didn't infuriate the researchers, since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5

Answer Key

1 Which paragraph from the section "No Junk Food For Lunch" gives key details that describe

how eating unhealthy lunches is linked to health problems?

Paragraph 10:

The study said that eating junk food for lunch leads to children becoming

overweight or even obese — overweight to the point of causing health

problems. Nearly one-third of children in the United States are overweight or

obese. Too much body fat is unhealthy. Being obese can lead to diabetes, high

blood pressure and high cholesterol.

2 Which of the following is a summary of the article?

(A) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered

healthier, better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, they ate more and

wasted less.

(B) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, only healthy students ate more

and wasted less.

(C) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, only unhealthy students ate more

and wasted less.

(D) Scientists did a study that showed that when kids were offered healthier,

better-tasting, better-looking school lunch, it made no difference.

3 Read these two sentences.

This is no small matter. As the study points out, 30 million children eat

meals at school each day and it matters what they eat.

How does the meaning of "matter" and "matters" change?

(A) In the first sentence, matter means "is important." In the second sentence,

matters means "issue."

(B) In the first sentence, matter means "issue." In the second sentence,

matters means "is important."

(C) In the first sentence, matter means "issue." In the second sentence, matters

means "is not important."

(D) In the first sentence, matter means "is important." In the second sentence,

matters means "is a large amount."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 6

4 Read the following paragraph.

In the study, researchers found that kids ate about the same amount of

the main course as before. That didn't bother the researchers, since

the chefs were cooking healthier meals.

Which answer choice has the SAME meaning as the second sentence in the paragraph

above?

(A) That didn't anger the researchers, since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

(B) That didn't frustrate the researchers since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

(C) That didn't concern the researchers, since the chefs were cooking

healthier meals.

(D) That didn't infuriate the researchers, since the chefs were cooking healthier

meals.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 7