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Education or provision? A comparison of two school-based fruit and vegetable nutrition education programs in the Netherlands

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posted on 2025-05-09, 18:47 authored by Angeliek VerdonschotAngeliek Verdonschot, Emely de Vet, Jolien van Rossum, Anouk Mesch, Clare CollinsClare Collins, Tamara BucherTamara Bucher, Annemien Haveman-Nies
A healthy diet is important for optimal child growth and development. School-based opportunities to encourage children to achieve healthy eating behaviors should be explored. Nutrition education programs can provide school children with classroom-based nutrition education and access to fruits and vegetables (FV). However, the effectiveness of specific program components implemented separately has not yet been comprehensively evaluated. The current study examined effectiveness of individual components of two programs targeting primary school children (n = 1460, n = 37 schools) aged 7–12 years. Nutrition knowledge and FV consumption were measured using a student questionnaire, and presence of school food policies was measured in the teachers’ questionnaire. A quasi-experimental design with three arms compared: (1) schools that implemented both programs: FV provision + education (n = 15), (2) schools that implemented the FV provision program only (n = 12), (3) schools that did not implement either program (n = 10). Outcomes were assessed pre-intervention (T0), during the intervention (T1), and 6 months post-intervention (T2). Results indicated a significant increase in nutrition knowledge for children attending schools that had participated in both programs, compared to control schools (p < 0.01), but no significant increase in FV intake. In schools without food policies, FV provision alone contributed to an increase in child FV intake (p < 0.05).

History

Journal title

Nutrients

Volume

12

Issue

11

Article number

3280

Publisher

MDPI AG

Language

  • en, English

College/Research Centre

Faculty of Health and Medicine

School

School of Health Sciences

Rights statement

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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