Impact of California Children's Power Play! Campaign on Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Physical Activity among Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students

Abstract

Purpose: Examine the impact of the Children's Power Play! Campaign on fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and physical activity (PA).

Design: Study design was a cluster randomized, controlled trial.

Setting: Forty-four low-resource public schools in San Diego County, California, were included in the study.

Subjects: Study subjects comprised a total of 3463 fourth/fifth-graders (1571 intervention, 1892 control), with an 86.9% completion rate.

Intervention: Throughout 10 weeks, activities were conducted during/after school, including weekly FV/PA lessons and PA breaks; biweekly classroom promotions/taste tests; posters displayed in/around schools; and weekly nutrition materials for parents.

Measures: Self-reported FV intake (cups/d) and PA (min/d) were collected at baseline and follow-up using a diary-assisted, 24-hour dietary recall and Self-Administered Physical Activity Checklist.

Analysis: Multivariate regression models adjusted for demographics and cluster design effects were used, with change as the dependent variable.

Results: Intervention children, compared with controls, showed gains in daily FV intake (.26 cups, p < .001) and PA time at recess/lunch (5.1 minutes, p = .003), but not total daily PA minutes.

Conclusion: Power Play! can help schools and community organizations improve low-income children's FV intake and PA during recess/lunch.

Keywords: Health focus: nutrition/physical activity; Nutrition Education, Nutrition Assessment, Fruits And Vegetables, Physical Activity, Child, School, Prevention Research. Manuscript format: research; Outcome measure: behavioral; Research purpose: intervention testing; Setting: school; Strategy: education, skill building/behavior change; Study design: randomized trial; Target population age: youth; Target population circumstances: income level.