Students across Newcastle are heading back to school this week, and researchers from the University of Newcastle are helping parents make healthy and simple food swaps in their children’s lunchboxes.
SWAP IT is a program developed and led by public health researchers from the University of Newcastle including Dr Rachel Sutherland, Professor Luke Wolfenden, Dr Jannah Jones and Alison Brown.
Four in five primary school students eat a packed lunch every day, which is more than 73,000 packed lunches in the Hunter New England region.
The research found that 88 per cent of those lunchboxes had room for improvement as students were getting more than one-third of their energy from such things as cakes, muesli bars, chips and sugary drinks.
Postdoctoral researcher at the School of Medicine and Public Health Dr Jannah Jones said parents were often blamed for packing unhealthy lunchboxes.
“We listened to parents and heard about their challenges. They told us they needed swaps that were quick, easy and food-safe,” Jones said.
“So, we didn’t start asking parents to cook Michelin star meals in the SWAP IT program. Instead, we gave them simple and frugal swap ideas directly to their phones.
“We sent notifications to parents’ phones via their school’s communication app. Two-thirds of schools use such apps. These notifications provided practical swap ideas directly to parents.”
Jones said 84 per cent of parents liked receiving the swap ideas as notifications on their phones.
PhD candidate in the School of Medicine and Public Health Alison Brown said along with making the swapping simple, the program was also cost-effective.
“Healthy swaps include things like swapping chips for popcorn or fruit strings for fresh fruit or veg. These swaps don’t have to burden time-poor parents,” Brown said.
“A typical lunchbox costs about $4 to pack. SWAP IT supports parents to make simple, tasty and healthy swaps without costing parents an extra cent.”
Public Health PhD candidate Matthew Mclaughlin said what parents packed for their children’s lunchboxes was important for students’ learning, behaviour and health.
“Parents receive very little guidance as to what to pack in school lunchboxes. It can be very confusing, especially when we see up to 10 junk food adverts per hour,” Mclaughlin said.
“We send swap ideas directly to parents’ phones. For example, swapping chips for popcorn and swapping cake for scones.”
Mclaughlin said the program worked to reduce the number of unhealthy foods being packed each day.
“Our newly published research shows that parents can be supported to make simple swaps to what they pack in lunchboxes, to make them healthier,” he said.
“What’s more, our research found that these healthy swaps don’t need to cost any more or take any more time to prepare.
“The program didn’t blame parents; instead, it supported parents. We think this was the key to success.”
Hayley McMahon