Date of Award:

5-1954

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences

Department name when degree awarded

Foods and Nutrition

Committee Chair(s)

Ethelwyn B. Wilcox

Committee

Ethelwyn B. Wilcox

Abstract

Nutritional problems of various population groups throughout the world are constantly being emphasized, It has been pointed out that life expectancy at birth is only thirty to forty years for over half of the world's population, while for those people who have been able to take advantage of modern medical and nutritional science, it is sixty-five to seventy years, Hunger, as well as preventing economic advancement, promotes unrest and political upheavals. The United States, in the interest of preserving its own security and way of life, has a vital stake in solving world nutritional problems as well as its own. Without doubt, we are all aware of this need today of improving the nutritional needs of our own people in practically all parts of the United States. However, the nutritional needs have to be defined before improvements can be recommended.

More exact and reliable criteria are needed for identifying borderline cases of malnutrition for various groups of people. This problem is gradually being solved through correlated medical, biochemical, and dietary studies. Thus, as one of the criteria on which to rely, dietary studies are one of the means of measuring the nutritional adequacy of the diet.

An evaluation of the school lunch by means of a dietary study cannot be made without also considering the other foods eaten during the day. The benefit of a good school lunch to health and dietary habits, therefore, may be greatest for those children whose family food supplies and habits are the poorest. The benefit will be greatest in the extent to which the foods provided in the school lunch supplement those supplied in the home.

A study of the dietary habits of school children in terms of the nutritive value of the school lunch and the rest of the day's food would help to evaluate the nutritional status for the group studied and measure the effectiveness of the school lunch program for improving the dietary habits of the children. Since the school lunch and its contribution to the total day's diet had not been studied in Utah, seven-day dietary records of the 8th grade Logan Junior High and 8th and 9th grades Wellsville Junior High students were used in evaluating the nutrient intake of the children.

The purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of each meal (breakfast, noon meal, and evening meal) to the total day's diet with emphasis on children eating school lunch versus the children not eating school lunch. The between-meal foods were also studied to see to what extent this supplementary intake improves the overall adequacy of the adolescent's diet.

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