{"doi":"10.3390/nu16234102","title":"How Do School Salad Bars Impact Elementary School Students’ Dietary Quality and Energy Intake at Lunch? A Randomized Controlled Plate Waste Investigation","abstract":"Background: Children’s dietary quality is suboptimal, increasing the risk of numerous chronic illnesses. Salad bars (SBs) have potential to enhance children’s nutritional intake within the National School Lunch Program (NSLP); yet, empirical support is lacking. To address this gap, we evaluated the impact of school salad bars on dietary quality and energy intake at lunch. Methods: Seven matched elementary school pairs were randomly selected. All schools served pre-portioned fruit and vegetables (F&V) at baseline. Within each pair, one school received an SB. Digital imagery plate waste methods were applied at baseline and 4–6 weeks post salad bar installation to determine intake (20% increments for food, ounces for beverages). Dietary quality (Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015)) and energy intake (kcal) were evaluated in NDSR. Multilevel modeling evaluated group (SB vs. control) and time (baseline vs. post) differences and group-by-time interactions for: (1) HEI-2015 (total and component scores) and (2) kcal intake (overall, F&V, non-F&V, and beverage kcals). Results: Data from 5674 trays are reported. Significant group-by-time interactions were observed for HEI-2015 total scores and Greens and Beans, Total Fruit, Whole Fruit, Refined Grains, and Added Sugar component scores (p < 0.0001), supporting improved dietary quality in SB schools. SB HEI-2015 scores were 60.1 ± 9.8 at post (+5.3 from baseline; p < 0.0001) compared with 57.2 ± 9.5 in controls (+1.0 from baseline; p = 0.065). Total energy intake significantly increased in SB schools (376 ± 151 kcal (baseline) → 434 ± 176 kcal (post)), driven by F&V energy (+59 kcal), with no change for controls. Discussion: Within the NSLP, SBs improved dietary quality and increased energy intake due to increased F&V intake without replacing other foods. Results can inform school nutrition policies designed to reduce chronic illness risk.","journal":"Nutrients","year":2024,"id":482429,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9505,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":388550,"name":"Suzanne E. Mazzeo","orcid":"0000-0003-0682-9891","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":518951,"name":"Hollie A. Raynor","orcid":"0000-0002-3782-9504","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":235153,"name":"Laura M. Thornton","orcid":"0000-0001-9384-7988","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":311093,"name":"Lilian de Jonge","orcid":"0000-0001-5900-0695","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1124864,"name":"A. M. M. Mendoza","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1124863,"name":"Sarah Farthing","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236006,"name":"Melanie K. Bean","orcid":"0000-0002-8695-8054","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":37,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:07:18.280369Z","pmid":"39683496","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}