TEENS was a group-randomized trial in 16 schools, designed to increase young adolescents’ consumption of fruits, vegetables and lower fat foods (FVLFF) to reduce future cancer risk. Primary hypotheses were that after adjusting for baseline differences, students in intervention schools would report greater FVLFF consumption than students in control schools following a two-year intervention. Primary outcomes (fruit and vegetable servings, percent energy from fat) were assessed using 24-hour dietary recalls at baseline and follow-up with a random sample of approximately 650 students. Secondary outcomes, from classroom surveys of 3800+ students, included: self-reported daily fruit and vegetable servings from a modified BRFSS questionnaire previously validated with adolescents; and a usual food choices scale indicating tendency to choose lower fat foods, which has previously detected intervention effects in youth. After the first intervention year, students exposed to classroom, family and school environment interventions reported significant increases in FVLFF intake, while control students and those exposed only to school environment interventions did not. Students who were peer leaders in the 7th grade curriculum reported increasing from 4.88±0.06 to 5.80±0.05 daily fruit and vegetable servings (p<0.05); those who received the curriculum but were not peer leaders increased from 4.51±0.04 to 4.95±0.04 daily servings (p<0.10). Additional dose-response analyses will be presented, as will final outcomes from dietary recall data. In addition, this presentation will evaluate the TEENS family intervention. Process data showed 26-37% participation in home-based activities. Results of self-reported shelf inventories assessing availability of FVLFF in the home environment will be presented.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: (1) List the primary hypotheses tested in a school-based group-randomized nutrition intervention trial; (2) Identify the primary outcome measures used to test the primary hypotheses; (3) Summarize student-level dietary outcomes from the nutrition intervention trial; (4) Summarize family-level dietary outcomes from the nutrition intervention trial.
Keywords: Nutrition, School-Based Programs
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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Relationship: Not Received.