mHealth Improved Fruit and Vegetable Accessibility and Intake in Young Children

Abstract

Objective: To explore the potential of mHealth using smartphones to improve fruit and vegetable intake in children.

Design: A 10-week randomized control and intervention pilot study.

Setting: Story time sessions at local libraries.

Participants: A convenience sample of 30 parents and children (aged 3-8 years).

Intervention: Delivery of nutrition intervention through the mobile Jump2Health website, Facebook posts, and text messages.

Main outcome measures: Electronic food photos of children's meals and snacks, 10-question survey related to fruit and vegetable consumption, reflectance spectroscopy via Veggie Meter to measure skin carotenoid levels, body mass index percentiles, and a mobile learning survey.

Analysis: Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test.

Results: Veggie Meter values for children and parents showed significant week × treatment interactions in the intervention group compared with the control group for both children (P < .001 and parents (P < .001).

Conclusions and implications: This pilot study offers a potentially effective program including a mobile Web site, social media, and test message components to increase fruit and vegetable intake of young children.

Keywords: child; fruit; mHealth; parent; vegetable.