School Meals in Denmark
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: School meal classes.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Childhood Obesity, Childhood Obesity Pevention, Well-being/Quality of Life, Diet Habits. Basic parameters: 9 years — 14 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
School Meals in Denmark: Evaluation of a National School Meal Pilot Program on Children's Health, Learning and Well-being - a Natural Experiment
Overview
This study looks at how a national school meal program affects the health, well-being, and learning of Danish schoolchildren aged 10 to 15 years. The study is part of the Danish National School Meal Pilot Program (2025-2028), which provides free school meals at selected public schools. Some school classes receive free school meals, while other classes do not and are used for comparison. Children are followed for about 1.5 years. Information is collected before and after the program using simple health measurements, questionnaires about well-being, and age-appropriate cognitive tests. The study also uses information from Danish national registers to better understand the children's background and to study longer-term outcomes related to health, education, and social conditions. In addition, the study examines whether school meal programs are cost-effective by comparing their costs with potential benefits for children and society. The goal of the study is to find out whether free school meals can improve children's health, well-being, and learning, and help reduce social differences.
Detailed description
School Meals in Denmark is a prospective, open-label, matched-pair cluster-randomized controlled study conducted as a natural experiment alongside the Danish National School Meal Pilot Program. As allocation to the national program is determined by the Danish Ministry of Children and Education and not by the investigators, the study evaluates the effects of school meals under real-world conditions without introducing an additional experimental intervention.
Approximately 3,200 children in grades 3, 4, and 7 from 32 public schools are included. Participating schools are matched in pairs based on socioeconomic and geographic characteristics using national statistical data. Recruitment includes schools implementing the program either at the middle grades or at the lower secondary level. At each school, intervention classes are identified at the grade level receiving school meals.
Control classes are recruited pragmatically from the same schools but at a different grade level than the intervention classes. Intervention effects are estimated by comparing classes at the same grade level across matched schools, where one school implements the school meal program at that grade and the matched school does not. This approach allows for within-school control recruitment while preserving between-school comparisons at the same grade level.
Data are collected at two time points over a follow-up period of approximately 1.5 years using a pre-post design. Outcomes include anthropometric measures (height, weight, body composition assessed by bioelectrical impedance), cardiovascular indicators (blood pressure and resting heart rate), tablet-based cognitive performance tests, and child-reported questionnaires on well-being and psychosocial functioning. Parents complete brief electronic questionnaires addressing their child's psychosocial functioning and dietary habits.
In addition, observations of school meal settings are conducted to assess food intake and food waste, and menu plans from meal providers are collected to evaluate nutritional quality and compliance with dietary guidelines.
The study is designed to generate robust evidence on the real-world effects of school meal programs on children's health, well-being, and learning outcomes.
Interventions
- Behavioral School meal classes
Natural experiment embedded within the Danish National School Meal Pilot Program (2025-2028), which offers free school meals to selected public schools. Children receive a free school-provided meal (typically lunch) five days per week. Meals vary across schools, as each school selects its own meal provider. All meals must comply with the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations and the Danish Food-Based Dietary Guidelines, with a focus on fish, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, access to drinking w
Primary outcome measures
- Well-being/health related quality of life [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
Secondary outcome measures (12)
- Psychological functioning [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Internalizing problems [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Externalizing problems [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Prosocial Behavior [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Psychological functioning (2) [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Externalizing problems (2) [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Internalizing problems (2) [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Prosocial Behavior (2) [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- WHO-5 Well-Being Index [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- School environment [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Peers and social support [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
- Psychological well-being [Time frame: Baseline, 16-22 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- All children attending 3rd, 4th or 7th grade in the recruited schools
Exclusion criteria
- No exclusion criteria will be applied
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- N/A
- Model
- Single group
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07389421 · H-25070631