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ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Body mass index ( BMI) increases when students are away on summer vacation. Evaluation of serial BMI measurements on year-round students allows new insight into the reasons children gain weight seasonally. METHODS The 206 first and second graders of 2-year-round elementary schools with obesity intervention programs were weighed and measured every 6 months from April 2011 until April 2013. BMI and BMI percentiles were recorded. RESULTS Children <50th, 50th to 85th, and 85th to 95th BMI percentiles showed significant accelerated winter gains in BMI (p = 2.6 × 10−7, p = 6.8 × 10−10, and p = .0007, respectively) compared with the previous summers. Accelerated BMI growth of the second summer was absent when compared with the previous winter BMI changes in children <95th percentile (p = .48, p = .81, and p = .93). For children >95th percentile, BMI gain continued without significant changes year-round. CONCLUSIONS School-wide interventions to induce BMI growth limitations are associated with significant rebound BMI gain with possible wintertime augmentation in nonobese children of year-round education programs. Obese children do not display rebound BMI gain, BMI seasonal change, or BMI limitations in response to school-based interventions. School weight control programs should consider off-campus sources of weight gain and be vigilant for rebound and delayed seasonal BMI gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We gathered baseline data about student need of healthy, free school food, and if current school meal programming serves students in need of healthy free school food, in anticipation of the completion of a district-wide kitchen infrastructure and educational farm project in a high-poverty urban school district., Methods: We used mixed methods to assess student hunger, whether the school meal program met student needs, and to determine associations between presence of a cooking kitchen and perceptions of healthy food. Participants included 72 staff, 143 parents, and 6437 K-5 students in the qualitative component, and 9078 parents and 1693 staff in the quantitative component., Results: Staff participants stated packaging and reheating food influenced student consumption. During observations, students at seven of nine high poverty sites with packaged reheated food did not eat school meals, but this was not true at four out of four high-poverty sites with unpackaged fresh food. Parents (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.00-1.39) and staff (OR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.15-2.17) from schools with a cooking kitchen were more likely to perceive school lunch as healthy in adjusted models., Conclusions: Food preparation and presentation appears to influence student consumption of school food and adult perception of school meal quality., (© 2020, American School Health Association.)