[Milk, Daily products and Bone health.Effects of School Lunch Programs on Bone Mass.]

In Japan, school lunches are provided to elementary and secondary student, not only for ensuring the intake of well-balanced and nutritious meal, but also hoping to improve their dietary habits. In this article, the authors review the effects of a school lunch program on the bone mass and dietary habits. The school lunch program was divided into 3 groups:a group provided with a complete school lunch, a group provided with only milk supplements, and a group provided with no supplement. The calcaneal bone mass was significantly higher in both primary and the junior high-school students given complete lunches compared with that in the other groups. Moreover, the intake of milk and milk products besides school lunches was more frequent in the groups that received complete lunches. The results suggest that the school lunch program, particularly that providing complete lunches, contributed to increasing the bone mass and improving the dietary habits.