Students’ Consumption of Beverages and Snacks at School and Away from School: A Case Study in the North East of Italy

In North-East Italy (the Veneto region), several public school nutrition policies have been developed to reduce the consumption of high-caloric snacks and beverages. However, little is known about whether the policies actually influence students’ dietary behaviors. In order to address this point, a multi-center cross-sectional survey of 691 Italian students was conducted. Students completed the Beverage and Snack Questionnaire, which assesses the consumption of beverages and snacks at school and out of school. Three-level Poisson Models with random intercept with students (level 1 units) nested into classroom (level 2 units), and nested into schools (level 3 units), were used to examine the influence of the school setting vs. the out of school environment (independent variable) on students’ consumption of sweet beverages, snacks, milk-based beverages, low-carbohydrate drinks, fruit, and vegetables (dependent variable) (p ≤ 0.05). The results showed a significantly higher consumption of sweet beverages, snacks, milk-based beverages, low-carbohydrate drinks, fruit, and vegetables out-of-the school, suggesting a school-protective association Thus, the policies aimed to limit or deny access to unhealthy foods in the school environment may play an important role in promoting more healthful dietary patterns for school children. Additional studies should be conducted to compare students’ dietary behaviors between schools with nutrition policies to those without nutrition policies.