Promoting fruit and vegetable consumption among European schoolchildren: rationale, conceptualization and design of the pro children project.
OBJECTIVE
The Pro Children Project was designed to assess fruit and vegetable consumption in European schoolchildren and their parents, as well as determinants of the children's consumption patterns. A second objective was to develop and test strategies, applicable across Europe, for promoting consumption of fruits and vegetables among schoolchildren and their parents. In this paper, the rationale, theoretical background, overall design and implementation of the project is presented.


METHODS
Surveys of national, representative samples of 11-year-old schoolchildren and their parents were conducted in 9 countries, i.e. in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Comprehensive school-based educational programmes have been developed and tested in three settings, i.e. in Spain, the Netherlands and in Norway. A precoded 24-hour recall form combined with a set of food frequency questions assessing regular intake were used to assess fruit and vegetable consumption. Determinants were assessed employing a comprehensive theoretical framework including personal, social and environmental factors related to fruit and vegetable consumption. The intervention programmes have been tested employing a group-randomized trial design where schools have been randomly allocated to an intervention arm and a delayed intervention arm. Surveys among all participating children and their parents were conducted prior to the initiation of the intervention, immediately after the end of the intervention and at the end of the subsequent school year.


CONCLUSIONS
The project is expected to provide new information of great importance for improving our understanding of consumption patterns of fruits and vegetables and for guiding future efforts to promote increased consumption patterns across Europe.
Klepp
Knut-Inge
KI
Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. k.i.klepp@medisin.uop.no
Pérez-Rodrigo
Carmen
C
De Bourdeaudhuij
Ilse
I
Due
P Pernille
PP
Elmadfa
Ibrahim
I
Haraldsdóttir
Jóhanna
J
Konig
Jurgen
J
Sjostrom
Michael
M
Thórsdóttir
Inga
I
Vaz de Almeida
Maria Daniel
MD
Yngve
Agneta
A
Brug
Johannes
J
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005638:Fruit; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables