Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils

Abstract Objective: To explore the information available in school food purchase data and ascertain the potential to assess pupils’ dietary intakes. The proportion of purchased food and drink items that were linked to (i) an Intake24 food group and (ii) a nutrient code from the UK National Diet an...

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Main Authors: Jennifer Bradley, Suzanne Spence
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Public Health Nutrition
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Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1368980025000527/type/journal_article
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author Jennifer Bradley
Suzanne Spence
author_facet Jennifer Bradley
Suzanne Spence
author_sort Jennifer Bradley
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Objective: To explore the information available in school food purchase data and ascertain the potential to assess pupils’ dietary intakes. The proportion of purchased food and drink items that were linked to (i) an Intake24 food group and (ii) a nutrient code from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Databank was calculated. Design: Pupil-level food purchase data covering the whole school day were obtained. Each item purchased was linked to an Intake24 food group and an NDNS Nutrient Databank code. Depending on the level of detail provided, items may have been assigned both a food group and a nutrient code, a food group only or neither for items, which did not contain enough information about the type of food or drink purchased. Setting: Five secondary schools in northeast England. Participants: Secondary school pupils aged 11–16 years. Results: The data captured 119 125 purchases made by 3466 pupils. 92 % of item descriptions were assigned a food group, and this equated to 82 % of total purchases. 70 % were assigned an NDNS Databank nutrient code, which accounted for 60 % of total purchases. 8 % of items had insufficient information and did not have a food group or a nutrient code assigned. Conclusions: The methodological challenges of collecting dietary data from pupils in the secondary school setting are significant. Purchase data offers an alternative, objective approach to collecting information on school food choices across the school day and for a large sample of pupils. With further development, the potential to use purchase data to assess intakes could be achieved.
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spelling doaj-art-403ce84a80894c73bc142998962cc5452025-08-20T02:58:18ZengCambridge University PressPublic Health Nutrition1368-98001475-27272025-01-012810.1017/S1368980025000527Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupilsJennifer Bradley0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7461-9074Suzanne Spence1Human Nutrition and Exercise Research Centre, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UKHuman Nutrition and Exercise Research Centre, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Abstract Objective: To explore the information available in school food purchase data and ascertain the potential to assess pupils’ dietary intakes. The proportion of purchased food and drink items that were linked to (i) an Intake24 food group and (ii) a nutrient code from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Databank was calculated. Design: Pupil-level food purchase data covering the whole school day were obtained. Each item purchased was linked to an Intake24 food group and an NDNS Nutrient Databank code. Depending on the level of detail provided, items may have been assigned both a food group and a nutrient code, a food group only or neither for items, which did not contain enough information about the type of food or drink purchased. Setting: Five secondary schools in northeast England. Participants: Secondary school pupils aged 11–16 years. Results: The data captured 119 125 purchases made by 3466 pupils. 92 % of item descriptions were assigned a food group, and this equated to 82 % of total purchases. 70 % were assigned an NDNS Databank nutrient code, which accounted for 60 % of total purchases. 8 % of items had insufficient information and did not have a food group or a nutrient code assigned. Conclusions: The methodological challenges of collecting dietary data from pupils in the secondary school setting are significant. Purchase data offers an alternative, objective approach to collecting information on school food choices across the school day and for a large sample of pupils. With further development, the potential to use purchase data to assess intakes could be achieved. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1368980025000527/type/journal_articleFood purchase dataDietary assessmentSecondary schools
spellingShingle Jennifer Bradley
Suzanne Spence
Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
Public Health Nutrition
Food purchase data
Dietary assessment
Secondary schools
title Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
title_full Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
title_fullStr Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
title_short Exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
title_sort exploring the feasibility of using school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school aged pupils
topic Food purchase data
Dietary assessment
Secondary schools
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1368980025000527/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT jenniferbradley exploringthefeasibilityofusingschoolfoodpurchasedataasamethodtoassessdietaryintakesinsecondaryschoolagedpupils
AT suzannespence exploringthefeasibilityofusingschoolfoodpurchasedataasamethodtoassessdietaryintakesinsecondaryschoolagedpupils