Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among preschoolers: evaluation of color me healthy

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Public Health Interventions
• Early Childhood Education

Background:

• Childhood obesity is a growing concern, necessitating effective interventions.
• Preschool-aged children often have suboptimal fruit and vegetable intake.
• Childcare settings provide a crucial environment for establishing healthy eating habits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the Color Me Healthy (CMH) program on fruit and vegetable consumption among preschool children.
• To determine if an interactive nutrition and physical activity program can improve dietary behaviors in young children.

Main Methods:

• An intervention study involving 263 preschool children across 17 childcare centers.
• Random assignment of centers to either the CMH curriculum group (165 children) or a control group (98 children).
• Data collection at baseline, 1 week, and 3 months post-intervention, analyzing fruit and vegetable snack consumption.

Main Results:

• Children in the CMH program showed a significant increase in fruit snack consumption (20.8%) and vegetable snack consumption (33.1%) at 3 months post-intervention.
• Hierarchical linear modeling confirmed that program participation was the sole significant predictor of increased fruit and vegetable intake.
• No significant changes were observed in the control group.

Conclusions:

• The Color Me Healthy (CMH) program is effective in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among preschool children.
• CMH can be successfully implemented in childcare settings to foster long-term healthy eating habits.
• Findings support the use of CMH as a valuable tool for pediatric nutrition education.