title: School food reduces household income disparities in adolescents' frequency of fruit and vegetable intake.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to examine whether school food attenuates household income-related disparities in adolescents' frequency of fruit and vegetable intake (FVI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Telephone surveys were conducted between 2007 and 2008 with adolescent-parent dyads from Northern New England; participants were randomly assigned to be surveyed at different times throughout the year. The main analysis comprised 1542 adolescents who typically obtained breakfast/lunch at school at least once/week. FVI was measured using 7-day recall of the number of times adolescents consumed fruits and vegetables. Fully adjusted linear regression was used to compare FVI among adolescents who were surveyed while school was in session (currently exposed to school food) to those who were surveyed when school was not in session (currently unexposed to school food).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean FVI was 8.0 (SD=5.9) times/week. Among adolescents unexposed to school food, household income and FVI were strongly, positively associated. In contrast, among adolescents exposed to school food, FVI was similar across all income categories. We found a significant cross-over interaction between school food and household income in which consuming food at school was associated with higher FVI among adolescents from low-income households versus lower FVI among adolescents from high-income households.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  School food may mitigate income disparities in adolescent FVI. The findings suggest that the school food environment positively influences FVI among low-income adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA. Electronic address: Meghan.R.Longacre@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: Meghan R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Longacre
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Greylock McKinnon Associates, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Keith M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Drake
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Community and Family Medicine, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Linda J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Titus
authors.affiliation: Human Nutrition Program, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Beach
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Langeloh
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Kristy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hendricks
authors.affiliation: Community Health Research Program, The Hood Center for Children and Families, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Pediatrics, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA; Department of Community and Family Medicine, The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Madeline A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dalton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D005638:Fruit / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014675:Vegetables / Q000191:economics*
keywords: Adolescents; Diet; Fruits; Income; School; Vegetables