Establishing energy-nutritional variety of boarding school daily menus as a result of regional differences using multivariate analysis

This study included food composition analysis of 14-day boarding school daily menus, in two seasons (spring/summer & autumn/winter), in five boarding schools in the Adriatic (coastal) region and four in the continental part of Croatia. The aim of the study was to investigate if there is a regional character in the variety of meals and menus, and whether the Mediterranean diet pattern was dominant in the coastal region. The food composition and number of servings of six food groups was analyzed for a 14-day menu rotation it two seasons and two regions. Content of energy, carbohydrates, fats and cholesterol was higher in continental menus, while the coastal school menus featured dishes with a lower energy intake and more diverse palette. Use of descriptive statistical tests in examining the regional menus found a significant difference only in sodium content (p = 0.026). Therefore, a multivariate tool, principal component analysis, was used to identify significant differences in the regional menus. The results show that the regional character plays an important role and highlighted the coastal dietary pattern with a significantly higher intake of vegetables, fruits and dietary products (p = 0.0058). A separate analysis of the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus resulted in regional clustering for dinners and loss of the regional character for breakfast menus.