Fat and Sugar Levels are High in Snacks Purchased From Student Stores in Middle Schools

Objective Children consume about one third of their daily energy at school, mostly from cafeteria food and bag lunches. Students also shop at studentrun stores that generate revenue for extracurricular activities; yet the nutritional value of snacks sold at student stores has not been documented to our knowledge. Design Cross-sectional study of foods sold at student stores in middle schools. Subjects/setting Twentyfour San Diego County (Calif) public middle schools, grades 6 through 8 (age 11 to 13), from 9 school districts. The schools represent a diversity of ethnic groups and socioeconomic levels. Statistical analyses performed Descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlations, analysis of variance. Results Snacks averaged 8.7g fat and 23.0g sugar. Overall, 88.5% of store inventory was high in fat and/or high in sugar. Sugar candy accounted for one third of store sales. Chocolate candy was highest in fat content: 15.7g. Fourteen of the 24 schools had stores that sold food and were run by student organizations. Stores were open daily for about 90minutes; half sold food during lunch. Conclusions Adolescents need opportunities to supplement main meals; however, student stores in middle schools sell primarily high-fat, high-sugar snacks. Key intervention possibilities include limiting sales of chocolate candy and substituting low-fat varieties of cakes, cookies, chips, and crackers. Competition with cafeterias for sales at lunchtime should be addressed. J Am Diet Assoc. 2000; 100:319 322.