Schools are central to shaping children’s food knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. Within obesity prevention, school food environments—including curriculum, policies, and everyday messaging—have traditionally emphasised healthy eating and disease prevention. However, emerging evidence highlights a critical tension: well-intentioned nutrition messages may inadvertently contribute to weight stigma, food restriction, and disordered eating among young people. This presentation will explore the current landscape of nutrition messaging in schools and its implications for both physical and mental health. Drawing on the SHiNE (Supporting Healthful Initiatives in Nutrition Education) project, synthesised findings from four scoping reviews, a national teacher survey, focus groups and ongoing guideline development will be presented.
School nutrition education around the world is predominantly oriented toward healthy eating and behaviour change, with limited attention to harm minimisation, inclusivity, and broader food literacy. Teachers are the primary facilitators of these messages, and although survey findings indicate high willingness to engage in professional development, key barriers include limited time, lack of resources, and uncertainty around curriculum expectations. In response, we are developing Australia’s first consensus-based guidelines for safe nutrition messaging in schools. Emerging principles include neutral and inclusive language, harm minimisation, critical thinking, and a whole-of-school approach. These guidelines are currently being refined, with opportunities for broader consultation. An update will also be provided on the co-design and pilot of an online teacher training program to support translation into practice. This session invites attendees to consider how school food environments can better align obesity prevention with eating disorder prevention.
Schools are central to shaping children’s food knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. Within obesity prevention, school food environments—including curriculum, policies, and everyday messaging—have traditionally emphasised healthy eating and disease prevention. However, emerging evidence highlights a critical tension: well-intentioned nutrition messages may inadvertently contribute to weight stigma, food restriction, and disordered eating among young people. This presentation will explore the current landscape of nutrition messaging in schools and its implications for both physical and mental health. Drawing on the SHiNE (Supporting Healthful Initiatives in Nutrition Education) project, synthesised findings from four scoping reviews, a national teacher survey, focus groups and ongoing guideline development will be presented.
School nutrition education around the world is predominantly oriented toward healthy eating and behaviour change, with limited attention to harm minimisation, inclusivity, and broader food literacy. Teachers are the primary facilitators of these messages, and although survey findings indicate high willingness to engage in professional development, key barriers include limited time, lack of resources, and uncertainty around curriculum expectations. In response, we are developing Australia’s first consensus-based guidelines for safe nutrition messaging in schools. Emerging principles include neutral and inclusive language, harm minimisation, critical thinking, and a whole-of-school approach. These guidelines are currently being refined, with opportunities for broader consultation. An update will also be provided on the co-design and pilot of an online teacher training program to support translation into practice. This session invites attendees to consider how school food environments can better align obesity prevention with eating disorder prevention.