The effects of Nordic school meals on concentration and school performance in 8- to 11-year-old children in the OPUS School Meal Study: a cluster-randomised, controlled, cross-over trial

The British Journal of Nutrition
Louise B SørensenNiels Egelund

Abstract

It is widely assumed that nutrition can improve school performance in children; however, evidence remains limited and inconclusive. In the present study, we investigated whether serving healthy school meals influenced concentration and school performance of 8- to 11-year-old Danish children. The OPUS (Optimal well-being, development and health for Danish children through a healthy New Nordic Diet) School Meal Study was a cluster-randomised, controlled, cross-over trial comparing a healthy school meal programme with the usual packed lunch from home (control) each for 3 months (NCT 01457794). The d2 test of attention, the Learning Rating Scale (LRS) and standard tests on reading and mathematics proficiency were administered at baseline and at the end of each study period. Intervention effects were evaluated using hierarchical mixed models. The school meal intervention did not influence concentration performance (CP; primary outcome, n 693) or processing speed; however, the decrease in error percentage was 0·18 points smaller (P<0·001) in the intervention period than in the control period (medians: baseline 2·03%; intervention 1·46%; control 1·37%). In contrast, the intervention increased reading speed (0·7 sentence, P=0·009) and ...Continue Reading

Associated Clinical Trials

Oct 24, 2011·Arne Astrup

Citations

Jan 8, 2016·Nutrients·Lotte LauritzenCarlo Agostoni
Sep 8, 2016·Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics : the Official Journal of the British Dietetic Association·T BurrowsR Lim
Sep 11, 2016·European Journal of Nutrition·Eero A HaapalaTimo A Lakka
Jan 15, 2017·Health Education Research·H S K ChanM Nicholson
Sep 30, 2016·The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews·May Loong TanKeng Hwang Teh
Jan 4, 2019·Pediatric Exercise Science·Yan ShiStephen Heung-Sang Wong
Feb 9, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Sehrish NaveedEero A Haapala
Dec 24, 2020·Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition·Magdalena OgłuszkaRafał Radosław Starzyński

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