Salad Bar Characteristics in Relation to Diet Quality of Schoolchildren

Objectives: We studied the association between the number of fruits and vegetables (F/V) offered and appearance of salad bars with student F/V consumption at lunch and overall diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study assessing student-level dietary intake (N = 2048) and school salad bar characteristics at 39 elementary schools in California during 2011 and 2012. Results: Students who were in schools with visually appealing salad bars (ie, extremely inviting) had the highest mean (M) HEI-2010 greens and beans score (M=0.52, SD=1.32) compared to students in schools with plain-looking salad bars (M=0.35, SD =1.11, p = .009). Conclusions: This result suggests that school salad bar appearance may play a positive role in students' vegetable diet quality. Intervention strategies that improve the attractiveness of salad bar offerings should be considered to promote vegetable consumption in schoolchildren.