Exposure to a Comprehensive School Intervention Increases Vegetable Consumption

Wang, May C.; Rauzon, Suzanne; Studer, Natalie; Martin, Anna C.; Craig, Launa; Merlo, Caitlin; Fung, Kelly; Kursunoglu, Deniz; Shannguan, Muyun; Crawford, Patricia

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.12.014

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Volume 47, Issue 1 , Pages 74-82, July 2010

Exposure to a Comprehensive School Intervention Increases Vegetable Consumption

May C. Wang, Dr.P.H.
- School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California
- Address correspondence to: May C. Wang, Dr.P.H., Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, CHS 26-051B, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
Suzanne Rauzon, M.P.H.
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Natalie Studer, M.P.H.
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Anna C. Martin, Ph.D.
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Launa Craig, B.S.
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Caitlin Merlo, M.P.H.
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Kelly Fung, M.P.H.
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Deniz Kursunoglu, B.S.
- School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
Muyun Shannguan, M.S.
- Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California
Patricia Crawford, Dr.P.H., R.D.
- School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California

Received 10 July 2009; accepted 12 December 2009. published online 11 February 2010.

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 2 years of a 3-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 3-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 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 (one standard serving), whereas students least exposed decreased their consumption by 0.3 cups (p < .05). Students most 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.

Keywords: School food service, Gardening and cooking programs, Fruit and vegetable, Elementary school, Middle school, Child obesity prevention, Community-based