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Topical Area: Nutrition Translation and Communications

Nutrition Translation and Communications (Poster Session)

(P09-004-23) Food Choice Patterns Among Children: A Cluster Analysis of School Lunch Selections

Saturday, July 22, 2023
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Location: Poster Board 72
Disclosure(s):
Inès François, MSc: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Hannah Ensaff, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: More than a fifth (23.4%) of 10-11-year-olds in England live with obesity. The link between childhood obesity and health issues (e.g., joint pains, type 2 diabetes) is also evident. Understanding children’s food choice behaviour is relevant to changing dietary habits and tackling childhood obesity. During the school day, children have the opportunity to select their school lunch from several options available. This study aimed to examine children’s food choice patterns in school, using automatically collected data on school lunch selections.

Methods: School lunch selection for 20 weeks (96 school days) from one school in England was collected. School children (5-11 years) who selected their school lunch on at least 15 occasions were included in the analysis (n=155, 11,796 transactions). Three options for school lunch were available daily: a meat/fish-based main meal (MF), e.g. sausage and mashed potatoes, battered fish and chips; a vegetarian main meal (VG), e.g. vegetarian pasta Bolognaise; and a sandwich/jacket potato (SJ), e.g. ham sandwich, cheesy jacket potato. Data were aggregated by each child, and cluster analysis was conducted to examine children’s food choice patterns. Cluster membership and socio-economic characteristics were examined with chi-squared tests.

Results: Four clusters of children with distinct patterns of food choice were identified (the model has reasonable fit): (1) dominated by meat/fish-based main meals (n=43, MF:76.8%, SJ:10.5%, VG:12.7%); (2) low selection of vegetarian main meals (n=42, MF:50.2%, SJ:36.8%, VG:13.0%); (3) tendency towards main meals (n=40, MF:57.8%, SJ:12.4%, VG:29.8%); (4) assorted selection (n=30, MF:36.8%, SJ:27.9%, VG:35.3%). The child’s age and entitlement to a free school meal were not associated with the cluster memberships (p=0.62 and p=0.83, respectively).

Conclusions: The data provided insights into children’s food choice patterns. Further work based on more granular food categories is needed, and findings have the potential to inform public health initiatives related to children’s dietary intake.

Funding Sources: Economic and Social Research Council (UK)