A pilot study of the effect of providing daily free fruit to primary-school children in Auckland, New Zealand.
Public Health Nutr
; 12(5): 693-701, 2009 May.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18664310
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To determine the uptake of a free fruit provision to low-decile primary-school children by quantitatively assessing changes in fruit intake.DESIGN:
A randomised controlled trial using a paired, cluster randomisation.SETTING:
Twenty low-decile primary schools (schools attended by the most deprived children) in Auckland, New Zealand.SUBJECTS:
In total 2032 children, aged 7-11 years, provided data on at least one occasion. INTERVENTION Ten pairs of low-decile primary schools matched by roll size and location were randomly allocated to control (no free fruit) or intervention (free fruit) for a school term. Dietary assessments using the 24 h recall methodology were made at baseline, on the last week of the intervention and 6 weeks post-intervention.RESULTS:
Fruit intakes in this cohort were lower than the national average with over 40 % reporting no fruit intake at baseline and did not differ between groups. After the free fruit period the intervention group increased school fruit intakes by 0.39 pieces/school d from baseline (P < or = 0.001) and the proportion of children consuming no fruit reduced to 22 %. This increase, however, was not sustained and fruit intakes fell below baseline levels at 6 weeks post-intervention. Control subjects did not significantly alter their fruit intakes throughout the study.CONCLUSIONS:
Improving exposure and accessibility to fruits at school increases fruit intakes of low socio-economic group children, particularly those who do not normally eat fruit. The present pilot study demonstrates some possible negative effects of short-term free fruit interventions, but is informative for developing and evaluating sustained fruit intervention programmes.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Instituciones Académicas
/
Estudiantes
/
Conducta Alimentaria
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Servicios de Alimentación
/
Frutas
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Promoción de la Salud
Tipo de estudio:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Límite:
Child
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Female
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Humans
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Male
País/Región como asunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Public Health Nutr
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO
/
SAUDE PUBLICA
Año:
2009
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Nueva Zelanda