Exposure to a Comprehensive School Intervention Increases Vegetable Consumption

  • May C. Wang School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley/College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley
  • Suzanne Rauzon College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkerly
  • Natalie Studer College of Natural Resources, University of Berkeley
  • Anna C. Martin College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley
  • Launa Craig College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley
  • Caitlin Merlo College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley
  • Kelly Fung College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley
  • Deniz Kursunoglu School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley/College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley
  • Muyun Shannguan UCLA School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles
  • Patricia Crawford
Keywords: school food service, gardening and cooking program, fruit and vegetable, elementary school, middle school, child obesity prevention, community-based

Abstract

Purpose
The current epidemic of childhood overweight has launched a variety of school-based efforts to address the issue. This study reports on the first two years of a three year evaluation of one school district’s comprehensive intervention to transform school foodservices and dining experiences, offer cooking and gardening programs, and integrate nutrition and food systems concepts into the academic curriculum.
Methods
This three-year prospective study, enrolled 327 4th and 5th graders in a mid-sized school district in California, and followed them into middle school. Intervention exposure was determined through interviews with school staff, and through student surveys. Student knowledge and attitudes were assessed annually by questionnaire, and student behavior was assessed annually by 3-day food diary. Household information was gathered by parent questionnaire. Changes in knowledge, attitudes and behavior were compared by level of intervention exposure using analysis of covariance; pairwise differences were evaluated using Bonferroni’s test at a procedure-wise error rate of 5%.
Results
After controlling for family sociodemographic background, students most exposed to the intervention increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables by nearly 0.5 cups (1 standard
serving) while students least exposed decreased their consumption by 0.3 cups (p<.05). Studentsmost exposed to the programming also showed a significantly greater increase in preference for fruit and green leafy vegetables, compared to students least exposed to the programming (p<.05).
Conclusions
Future research is needed to better understand the relative importance of the different
components of such a program, and their cost-benefits as well as health impacts.

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Published
2017-08-14
Issue
2009: CCPR Population Working Papers 2009
Section
Articles