Ahmed KR, Kolbe-Alexander T, Khan A. Efficacy of a school-based education intervention on the consumption of fruits, vegetables and carbonated soft drinks among adolescents.
Public Health Nutr 2023;
26:3112-3121. [PMID:
37781771 PMCID:
PMC10755403 DOI:
10.1017/s1368980023002094]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the efficacy of a school-based education intervention on the consumption of fruit, vegetables and carbonated soft drinks among adolescents.
DESIGN
Cluster-randomised controlled trial.
SETTING
Eight secondary schools from Dhaka, Bangladesh, participated in this trial and were randomly allocated to intervention (n 160) and control groups (n 160).
PARTICIPANTS
A total of 320 students from 8th to 9th grades participated and completed the self-reported questionnaires at baseline, and at 8 and 12 weeks. The intervention included weekly classroom-based nutrition education sessions for students and healthy eating materials for students and parents. Repeated measures ANCOVA was used to assess the effects of the intervention.
RESULTS
Daily fresh fruit intake was more frequent in the intervention (26 %) compared to the control group (3 %) at 12 weeks (p = 0·006). Participants from the intervention group also reported a significantly (P < 0·001) higher (49 %) proportion of fresh vegetable intake compared to the control group (2 %) at 12 weeks. Frequency of daily carbonated soft drinks intake decreased (25 %) in the intervention group at 12 weeks compared to baseline, while it remained unchanged in the control group; the interaction effect was observed significant (P = 0·002).
CONCLUSION
Our school-based education intervention increased the daily frequency of fresh vegetables and fruit intake and decreased carbonated soft drink consumption among adolescents in the intervention group. There is a need for scaling up the intervention to engage students and empower them to develop healthy dietary habits.
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