title: Incentivizing children's fruit and vegetable consumption: results of a United States pilot study of the Food Dudes Program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preliminary evaluation in the United States (US) of a school-based fruit and vegetable (F/V) intervention, known as the Food Dudes (FD) program, developed in the United Kingdom.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over 16 days (Phase 1), elementary-school children (n = 253) watched short videos featuring heroic peers (the FD) eating F/V and received a reward for eating F/V served at lunchtime. In the 3 months that followed (Phase 2), children received increasingly intermittent rewards for eating F/V. Consumption was measured by photo analysis and assessment of skin carotenoids.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fruit and vegetable intake increased significantly after Phases 1 and 2 (P < .001 for both). This effect was most discriminable among children who consumed no fruit (n = 100) or no vegetables (n = 119) at pre-intervention baseline. Among these children, F/V intake (combined) increased by 0.49 (0.53) cups per day.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FD program can increase F/V intake in US elementary schools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-8700, USA. Heidi.wengreen@usu.edu
authors.forename: Heidi J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wengreen
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.forename: Sheryl S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Aguilar
authors.forename: Rochelle R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.forename: Brooke A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012574:Schools; D014481:United States; D014675:Vegetables