Hunger, overconsumption and youth: future directions for research in school-based public health nutrition strategies.

The search for strategies that can counteract the alarming growth in obesity among youth has fuelled considerable interest among public health nutrition researchers, policy makers and practitioners to examine ways in which school-based food and nutrition approaches can be effectively utilized to promote healthful eating. Historically, in most parts of the world, school food programmes were started to address inadequate nutrition, improve school attendance and enhance children’s ability to learn. In this issue, Ashe and Sonnino eloquently articulate that today, as we contend with the full spectrum of malnutrition – from hunger to overconsumption – in the same population, a fuller understanding of the potential benefit that strong school-based public health nutrition strategies could bring to society is warranted. Consequently there is a need to set future directions for research in school-based strategies that can have implications for policy and practice for improving the health and wellbeing of children across the world. In particular, there is a need to reflect on a new paradigm that is emerging around school foods – the idea that schools should be considered ‘protected spaces’ where young people enjoy and experience healthy food and nutrition environments. This issue of Public Health Nutrition includes research articles on a broad range of topics related to health and school meal programmes. Based on this collective knowledge, below we identify themes and topics and propose a research agenda for school-based promotion of public health nutrition. Future research in this area should contribute new evidence to inform policy and develop strategies that take advantage of the opportunities that schools offer as a health-promoting setting.