Implementing organizational changes to promote healthful diet and physical activity at school

Abstract

Diet and physical activity patterns appear to be learned at early ages, suggesting the need for school-based intervention. The potential of schools to improve children's diet and physical activity has been offset by countervailing school environments. In the first year of the "Go For Health" health promotion project, organizational change innovations were implemented to facilitate changes in school lunch, physical education, and classroom health education in support of healthful student diet and physical activity. At first follow-up after one year of intervention, the amount of sodium in selected foods served in school lunch was reduced from baseline (1985) to year one (1986) in the experimental schools by 29 and 33%, respectively, and fat was reduced by 28 and 42%, respectively. At first follow-up, students in the experimental schools participated in fitness activities 44.1 and 38.0% of the time, compared with 19.5 and 22.7% in the control schools.