Increasing fruit and vegetable intake among children: comparing long-term effects of a free distribution and a multicomponent program.

: Health Educ Res. 2008 Jun 10. [Epub ahead of print] Links
Reinaerts E, Crutzen R, Candel M, De Vries NK, De Nooijer J.
1Department of Health Education.romotion, Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute Maastricht, Universiteit Maastricht, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two primary school-based interventions on children’s fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption on the long term (2 years after the start of the interventions). Six primary schools were recruited and randomly assigned to (i) a daily free distribution program for the whole school or (ii) a multicomponent program consisting of a classroom curriculum and parental involvement (without free F&V), and six schools served as controls. Follow-up measurements were conducted at the end of the intervention (Follow-up I) and 1 year later (Follow-up II). Random coefficient analyses for longitudinal data showed that the effects of both interventions did not differ between the two follow-up measurements. The results showed similar effects for the free distribution program and the multicomponent program in increasing children’s fruit consumption over time (respectively, 7.2 and 15.2 g day(-1)). The distribution program also increased children’s vegetable consumption over time (3.25 g day(-1)), even after repeating the analyses using a pessimistic scenario. Despite the large dropout and its consequences for generalizability of our results, the distribution program is considered as the preferred intervention of the two, and implementation on a larger scale should be investigated.