M. D. Anderson Researchers to Study Kids' Lunch Habits

You give your children lunch money, but could their food choices at school lead to cancer in later life?

Cancer prevention experts recommend 5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily to reduce the risk of cancer by 30 to 40 percent. But research shows that children consume less than 2.5 servings daily, dismally below the cancer-protective threshold.

With that in mind, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are conducting a pilot study to determine what choices children actually make when allowed to select from a tempting array of sweets and high-fat snacks, and fruit and vegetables as lunch choices.

"If children are given freedom of choice in selecting food for lunch, will their diets change for the worse?" asks Dr. Karen Cullen, principal investigator of a two-year study funded by the Cancer Research Foundation of America.

Dr. Cullen, a department of behavioral science researcher at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and other investigators also will examine whether children change their eating habits over the course of the school year, perhaps choosing nutritious foods after the novelty of availability of less healthy foods has worn off.

Six hundred fourth- and fifth-graders at Levi Fry Intermediate School and Northside, Kohfeldt, Roosevelt Wilson and Heights Elementary Schools in Texas City, are filling out daily food diaries, recording what they eat for lunch.

Like a kid in a candy store... Even our euphemisms support the belief that children will choose unhealthy foods over nutritious ones.

Recent studies show that the National School Lunch Program meals provide a significant amount of fruit and vegetables for third-grade children, says Dr. Cullen. But no research to date has examined what happens to children's diets when they move into middle and junior high schools, where snack bars offer competing foods, such as candy, chips and soft drinks.

"This research will provide important information to enable us to develop and implement middle school nutrition behavior change programs to influence children's choices of fruits, vegetables and low-fat foods," says Dr. Ellen Gritz, chair of the department of behavioral science.

Results of this study may equip cancer prevention researchers to make specific recommendations regarding the wisdom of offering children such a choice, Dr. Cullen says. This could include recommendations to school districts to increase availability of attractive fruits, vegetables and lower-fat food items and limit unhealthy snack bar items.

"We know that poor nutrition is a risk factor for colorectal, prostate and possibly breast cancers," says Dr. Bernard Levin, M. D. Anderson's vice president for cancer prevention. "We ultimately want to reduce the number of cancers by seeing people begin in childhood to practice healthy nutrition habits that last a lifetime."

- ALISON RUFFIN

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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