Examining associations between school food environment characteristics and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among Canadian secondary-school students in the COMPASS study. Issue 11 (21st May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Godin, Katelyn M; Chaurasia, Ashok; Hammond, David; Leatherdale, Scott T
• Is Part Of: Public health nutrition. Volume 22:Issue 11(2019)
• Page Start: 1928
• Page End: 1940
• Publication Date: 2018-05-21
• Subjects: Sugar-sweetened beverage, -- Schools, -- Nutrition policy, -- Youth, -- Canada; Nutrition -- Periodicals; Nutrition policy -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 613.2
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980018001246
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-9800

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To examine associations between Canadian adolescents' sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and several school food environment characteristics, and to investigate differences in these characteristics between schools in provinces with voluntary (Alberta) v . mandatory (Ontario) provincial school nutrition policies. Design: We used a questionnaire to assess the number of weekdays participants consumed three SSB categories (soft drinks, sweetened coffees/teas, energy drinks) and various sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics. We examined the in-school water fountain accessibility, vending machines' contents and presence of various food outlets within schools' 1 km buffer. We developed hierarchical Poisson regression models to identify associations between student- and school-level characteristics and students' SSB outcomes. Setting: Alberta and Ontario, Canada. Subjects: Adolescents ( n 41 829) from eighty-nine secondary schools. Results: Compared with their Ontarian counterparts, Albertan participants had a significantly higher rate of SSB intake across all drink categories and SSB availability was significantly greater in Albertan schools' vending machines. Availability of sweetened coffees/teas in school vending machines and access to restaurants within the school's 1 km buffer were associated with increased SSB intake in three of the final models. Overall, the school food environment-level characteristics examined had a modest to negligible impact on student days of SSB intake. Conclusions: We identified that the school food environment characteristics examined here had little impact on adolescents' days of SSB consumption. While schools should adopt or maintain a comprehensive policy approach to discourage students' SSB intake, population-level interventions focusing on other contexts (e.g. home and community) are needed to complement existing school-based interventions.