Promoting use of canned fruits and vegetables to low-income families

Issues: Canned fruits and vegetables are affordable and nutritious options but are not always promoted by nutrition education programs. Description: From April 2008 to March 2009, caregivers of 592 low-income, preschool children in an inner-city pediatric clinic were provided a brief nutrition education lesson promoting canned fruits and vegetables and were given food samples to try at home. Caregivers were surveyed about fruit and vegetable practices prior to the intervention and by phone 4-6 weeks later. Demographic information and child food security status using the United States Food Security Scale were collected at baseline. Lessons Learned: Multivariate analyses examined differences in fruit and vegetable use pre and post intervention. All models included child characteristics (food security, race/ethnicity, age), maternal characteristics (marital status, immigrant status, education), and household size, and were adjusted for baseline values. Average servings of canned vegetables/week increased from 2.59 to 3.25 (p<0.001). Average total servings of vegetables/day increased from 2.08 to 2.13 (p<0.001). Servings of canned fruit/week increased from 2.50 to 3.26 (p<0.001). Total servings of fruit/day increased from 2.17 to 2.22 (p<0.001). Food insecure children, representing 28.4% of the sample, had a greater improvement in canned vegetables/week (0.82 vs. 0.49 p=0.021). Race/ethnicity also significantly predicted improvement in canned vegetables/week (p=.014) and canned fruit/week (p=.004) with Somali and White families showing the greatest improvement. Recommendations: Nutrition education programs should include canned fruits and vegetables as an acceptable and affordable option for low-income families.