Promotion of healthy nutrition among students participating in a school food aid program: a randomized trial.

Auteur(s) :
Yannakoulia M., Kastorini CM., Linos A., Lykou A., Petralias A., Riza E., Zota D., Dalma A., Karnaki P., Belogianni K., Veloudaki A., Malik R.
Date :
Mar, 2016
Source(s) :
International journal of public health. #61:5 p583-92
Adresse :
Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. [email protected]

Sommaire de l'article
Imprimer

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the potential benefits on students' eating habits, of incorporating healthy nutrition education as part of a school food aid program.

METHODS
146 schools participating in the DIATROFI Program in Greece during the 2013-2014 school year were randomly allocated to the environmental intervention (received a healthy daily meal) and the multicomponent intervention (MI) group (in addition to the meal, a healthy nutrition educational program was applied). The analysis, based on 3627 pre-post intervention questionnaire pairs, was stratified for children (ages 4-11 years) and adolescents (ages 12-18 years).

RESULTS
Children participating in the MI group displayed 25 % higher odds of increasing the weekly consumption of milk/yoghurt and fruits, 61 % higher odds of improving BMI from overweight/obese to normal and 2.5 times higher odds of improving from underweight to normal. For adolescents in the MI group, the odds of increasing the consumption of vegetables were 40 % higher. In both intervention groups, approximately one in four overweight/obese adolescents reached normal weight.

CONCLUSIONS
Educational programs on healthy nutrition might be considered worth implementing in the framework of school food aid programs.

Source : Pubmed
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