Participation in School Food and Nutrition Activities among Grade 6-8 Students in Vancouver.

This study examined student-reported participation in school food and nutrition activities in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), and whether engagement differed by gender and between elementary and secondary school students. A cross-sectional survey of grade 6-8 public school students (n = 937) from 20 elementary and 6 secondary schools assessed student-reported participation in a range of food and nutrition activities. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics and multilevel logistic regression to examine associations between participation with gender and school type.

Sustainability and public health nutrition at school: assessing the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in Vancouver schools.

Objective: To describe the development and application of the School Food Environment Assessment Tools and a novel scoring system to assess the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in elementary and secondary schools.

Design: The cross-sectional study included direct observations of physical food environments and interviews with key school personnel regarding food-related programmes and policies. A five-point scoring system was then developed to assess actions across six domains: (i) food gardens; (ii) composting systems; (iii) food preparation activities; (iv) food-related teaching and learning activities; and availability of (v) healthy food; and (vi) environmentally sustainable food.