SCHOOL GARDEN PROGRAMS AND NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE IMPACT ON ADOLESCENT EATING HABITS IN RURAL PUNJAB

Urban Farm DB summary

A quasi-experimental study with 194 adolescents aged 11–15 years in government schools of South Punjab, India, assessed if integrating school gardening with nutrition education improves dietary habits. After a 12-week intervention, the intervention group showed an increase in mean dietary diversity from 4.2 to 6.1 and a decrease in weekly junk food servings from 9.8 to 5.2. Compared to the control group, the intervention group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in both dietary diversity and junk food consumption.