School Garden and Nutrition Education Associated with Increased Consumption of School Meals in Pilot Study
Kerstetter K., Roberts K. J., Trent R., Koch P. A., Casey C., De Jesus-Martin M., Trinidad A., Mampara J., Bacon B.
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
Urban Farm DB summary
A pilot study testing whether a multicomponent school garden and nutrition education intervention increases actual school lunch consumption. Students in grades 1–5 from matched pairs of public schools (one high-poverty and one low-poverty intervention school, each paired with a comparison school) were observed with the System of Observational Cafeteria Assessment of Foods Eaten over 13 days across 28 lunch periods, with consumption defined as the percentage of each entrée and side salad eaten. Students at intervention schools consumed 47.5% of the entrée and 44.1% of the entrée plus side salad, against 34.5% and 31.2% at comparison schools; adjusted models showed 0.13 (P = 0.006) and 0.11 (P = 0.01) more portion units consumed, with no significant treatment-by-pair interactions. The authors conclude that a cluster-randomised trial is warranted.