Unlike LAC, the selected school districts in SCC are small and preferred not to be identified by name. Thus, in the analysis they are labeled as District A, B, C, and D. The SCC protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ann and Robert H. Lurie

Children’s Hospital of Chicago Research Center Institutional Review Board. All LAUSD schools in LAC and all schools in the four selected school districts in SCC were included in the comparison described for the school years (SY) 2010–11 to 2011–2012. To compare the changes in nutrient levels after implementation of the nutrition interventions in both counties, we used the October 2010 school breakfast and lunch menus for elementary Wnt inhibitor review and secondary schools in LAUSD and compared them to the October 2011 menus. For SCC, we used the May–June 2011 (three consecutive weeks) school breakfast and lunch menus for elementary schools and compared them to the March–May 2012 (three consecutive weeks) menus. These comparison time points were chosen based on the timeline of intervention implementation in each county, accounting for lag time between the two locales, but preserving the pre- and post-intervention interval at approximately 12 months apart. The post intervention results were then examined to see if they aligned with the IOM (for LAUSD) and Alliance for a Healthier find more Generation (for SCC) school

meal recommendations. Both counties had data for the following nutrients: food energy (kcal), protein (grams “g”), fiber (g), total fat (g), saturated fat (g), sugar (g), and sodium (milligrams “mg”). Means, 95% CIs, and percent change of nutrient

levels pre- and post-intervention were compared for all LAUSD schools and all schools in the four districts in SCC. T-tests were performed to determine if nutrient changes were significant; where appropriate, log transformations were employed. Participation frequency (i.e., the number of students participating in school breakfast and lunch), average change in kilocalories per meal for breakfast and lunch, and the number of serving days per year were calculated and used to estimate net calories (kcal) offered annually for full-time (5 days per week) meal program participants (per student per year). Nutrition Electron transport chain interventions implemented by LAUSD, which were based on IOM recommendations for healthy school meals (IOM, 2009), resulted in significant reductions in mean caloric and mean sugar content of breakfast and lunch school meals (Table 3). Similarly, for most meal categories, mean sodium content dropped. The most dramatic reductions were observed in the breakfast category for mean sugar, mean total fat, and mean sodium content. Although protein increased in the lunch meal category for elementary schools, the nutrient decreased in all other meal categories. Dietary fiber also decreased in all meal categories.