Digital photography assessment of 1,750 elementary and middle school student lunch meals demonstrates improved nutrition with increased exposure to hands-on cooking and gardening classes

To investigate a scalable version of a global nutrition education model by a novel assessment of the impact of hands-on cooking and gardening classes, Edible Schoolyard (ESY), on the eating patterns of elementary and middle school students. Lunches (n = 1,750) by students (n = 479) including 8,750 food components in an urban charter school in New Orleans, Louisiana, were analyzed over one week using a validated digital photography protocol. Univariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression according to school class were performed. Compared to less ESY exposed grades, eighth graders consumed less saturated fat (2.4 vs. 2.8 g, p < 0.0274), less total fat (11.9 vs. 13.5 g, p = 0.0324), and more fruits (100 vs. 68 %, p = 0.0047). After controlling for caloric intake, this class was nearly twice as likely to consume less than 1,000.0 mg sodium per meal compared to other grades (OR = 1.94, 95 % CI 1.0137–3.7140, p = 0.045), however, eighth graders failed to meet the 650.0 mg sodium target of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. We report lower sodium and fat but higher fruit consumption in students with greater exposure to hands-on nutrition education. This is the first known application of an accurate digital photography protocol to demonstrate dietary improvements of elementary and middle school students with increased exposure to a hands-on cooking, gardening, and nutrition education curriculum. This study suggests that such a curriculum is thus scalable through schools for improving child health.