Impact of a nutrition education curriculum on snack choices of children ages six and seven years

Abstract

Objective: To report the impact of nutrition education on snack choices of children ages 6 and 7 years.

Design: In this quasi-experimental study, students at 2 intervention schools participated in a 4-week after-school program, NutriActive Healthy Experience, that included nutrition lessons, healthy snacks, and parent education. Students at 2 comparison schools did not receive any intervention but participated in the assessment of snack choices. Intervention and comparison students were offered the choice of 3 out of 10 snack items at baseline, at the end of the 4-week program, and 4 months later.

Setting: An after-school program in the school setting.

Participants: 36 intervention and 23 comparison kindergarten and first-grade students.

Main outcome measures: Students' snack choices were coded and analyzed.

Analysis: t test, repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results: Immediately after the program, the intervention group showed a 25.7% improvement in choosing more healthful snacks, and the comparison group showed an 18.2% decline. At 4 months, the intervention group's score was 33.3% higher than baseline and the comparison group's score remained 18.2% lower than baseline (time by treatment interaction, P= .023).

Conclusions and implications: Intervention students were significantly more likely than comparison students to choose more healthful snacks when given the opportunity. The snack test may be a useful alternative for assessing snack choices of children ages six to seven years.