title: A novel approach for increasing fruit consumption in children.
abstract: Despite the well-documented health benefits of fruits and vegetables and the public health campaigns promoting their consumption, children's intake is below the recommended levels. A randomized controlled trial for evaluating the effectiveness of a school-based intervention for increasing children's fruit intake, with the teacher being the exposure model, was designed. Two hundred eighteen elementary school students (aged 9 years) in Cyprus were randomly assigned into two 1-year intervention groups, the Educational Material group (EDUC) (n=59) and the Exposure group (EXPO) (n=67), or a control group (n=58). Children's dietary intake was assessed through 2-day dietary records before the intervention began (October 2008), at the end of the intervention (June 2009), and at 1-year follow-up (June 2010). Students in the EDUC group received a weekly educational program for increasing awareness and improving skills regarding fruit preparation/consumption and students in the EXPO group were exposed to the consumption of a fruit on a daily basis by their teacher. The control group members received no intervention. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to evaluate the group effect and the time×group interaction. Higher fruit intake was reported by the children in the EXPO and the EDUC groups compared with the control group at the end of the intervention: a statistically significant group effect was found (P<0.001). At 1-year follow-up, results remained significant only for the children in the EXPO group (P<0.001). Exposure to fruit consumption by schoolteachers may be a more effective way for improving fruit intake of children compared with traditional educational approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perikkou
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gavrieli
authors.forename: Maria-Matina
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kougioufa
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tzirkali
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yannakoulia
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003535:Cyprus; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D015930:Diet Records; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D005638:Fruit; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D012572:School Health Services; D012574:Schools
keywords: Nutrition intervention; School; Teacher