The Effects of the Healthy Primary School of the Future on Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Preferences, Familiarity and Intake

Nutrients

Constant P. van Schayck¹  Marla T. H. Hahnraths¹  Maartje Willeboordse¹  Patricia van Assema²  Bjorn Winkens³ 

[1] Department of Family Medicine, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands;Department of Health Promotion, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands;Department of Methodology and Statistics, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands;

关键词: primary school;    health promoting school;    nutrition;    eating habits;    repeated exposure;    taste preferences;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu13093241

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Mere exposure is an often-described strategy to increase children’s food familiarity, preferences, and intake. Research investigating this method in less controlled settings is scarce. This study investigates the effects of repeated fruit and vegetable (FV) exposure through the Healthy Primary School of the Future (HPSF) on children’s FV familiarity, preferences, and intake. The study had a longitudinal quasi-experimental design comparing two full HPSFs (focus: nutrition and physical activity) with two partial HPSFs (focus: physical activity) in the Netherlands. Annual measurements (child-reported questionnaires) were conducted during 2015–2019 in 833 7–12-year-old children. The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02800616). After correction for baseline, full HPSFs had, on average, a lower number of unfamiliar vegetable items after one (effect size (ES) = −0.28) and three years (ES = −0.35) and a higher number of disliked vegetable items after one year (ES = 0.24) than partial HPSFs. Unfavorable intervention effects were observed for fruit intake after one (odds ratio (OR) = 0.609) and four years (OR = 0.451). Repeated FV exposure had limited effects on children’s FV familiarity, preferences, and intake, likely due to insufficient taste exposure. Considering the widespread implementation of school-based mere exposure efforts, it is highly relevant to further investigate under which circumstances mere exposure effectively contributes to improvements in (determinants of) FV intake.

【 授权许可】

Unknown