Teachers Promotion of Nutrition and Fruit and Vegetable Intake of Elementary-Aged Students

Childhood obesity is a priority public health issue, schools have become important sites for improving children's nutritional practices. The Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy (MIHFA) in Vallejo, CA is a K-6th grade school serving low income children with a focus on health and fitness. The objective of this cross-sectional study is to assess student's fruit and vegetable consumption and teacher promotion of nutrition. Preliminary analysis on mean fruit and vegetable intakes for 2nd and 3rd graders (n=110) was computed using 24 hour recalls. Mean vegetable (1 cup equivalent) intake was 1.7 (1.25) and mean fruit (1 cup equivalent) intake was 2.08 (1.091). One-third of students are not getting the recommended servings of fruits and nearly half (45%) are not getting the recommend servings of vegetables; 70% of students reported that their teacher tells them to eat fruits everyday and 66% states their teacher tells them to eat vegetables everyday. Higher sample sizes, to increase power of the study, are required to assess correlations between teacher promotion of healthy eating and student intake of fruits and vegetables. It is promising that in the first year since this school has transitioned to a Health and Fitness Academy that teachers have incorporated positive nutrition messages to students. It is possible that teacher messages encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption need to be accompanied by other social and environmental changes to further improve children's fruit and vegetable consumption to recommended levels, for example, improved family and school nutrition practices.