Impact of a nutrition award scheme on the food and nutrient intakes of 2- to 4-year-olds attending long day care.

Auteur(s) :
Hendrie GA., Golley RK., Bell LK., Hartley J.
Date :
Oct, 2015
Source(s) :
Public health nutrition. #18:14 p2634-42
Adresse :
Sansom Institute for Health Research (Public Health Group),Division of Health Sciences,University of South Australia,IPC CEA 19,GPO Box 2471,Adelaide,SA 5001,Australia. [email protected]

Sommaire de l'article

OBJECTIVE
Early childhood settings are promising avenues to intervene to improve children's nutrition. Previous research has shown that a nutrition award scheme, Start Right – Eat Right (SRER), improves long day care centre policies, menus and eating environments. Whether this translates into improvements in children's dietary intake is unknown. The present study aimed to determine whether SRER improves children's food and nutrient intakes.

DESIGN
Pre-post cohort study.

SETTING
Twenty long day care centres in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

SUBJECTS
Children aged 2-4 years (n 236 at baseline, n 232 at follow-up).

METHODS
Dietary intake (morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea) was assessed pre- and post-SRER implementation using the plate wastage method. Centre nutrition policies, menus and environments were evaluated as measures of intervention fidelity. Comparisons between baseline and follow-up were made using t tests.

RESULTS
At follow-up, 80 % of centres were fully compliant with the SRER award criteria, indicating high scheme implementation and adoption. Intake increased for all core food groups (range: 0·2-0·4 servings/d, P<0·001) except for vegetable intake. Energy intake increased and improvements in intakes of eleven out of the nineteen nutrients evaluated were observed.

CONCLUSIONS
SRER is effective in improving children's food and nutrient intakes at a critical time point when dietary habits and preferences are established and can inform future public health nutrition interventions in this setting.

Source : Pubmed
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