Abstract:

Adequate and balanced nutrition is essential for growth, development and school success in school children. The current pilot study carried out to evaluate lunch box of school children was conducted over 173 students (90 boys and 83 girls) attending to a primary school. It was found that 56.0% of the students sometimes took their lunch box while 16.8% took it regularly. The rate of such healthy food as vegetables, fruit, milk and ayran they had in their lunch boxes daily was low, while the rate of such nutrients as coke, chips, candy, chocolate, salami and sausages were high. The lunch boxes dominantly had 1–2 food groups. As a conclusion, the habit of bringing lunch box to school among the children at the age of primary school is widespread. However, it was found that lunch boxes cannot be prepared in right way. It is recommended that teachers, parents and students should be in cooperation over bringing lunch box to school, the menus should be prepared by dieticians if possible and that parents should be trained over the type and amount of food to be put in lunch boxes.

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