Effectiveness of a Nutrition Education Program to Improve Children's Chewing Habits

This quasi-experimental study determined whether the nutrition education program we developed to promote chewing food properly influenced children's chewing habits successfully. Four kindergarten classes in Japan (150 children, aged 5-6 years) were studied; one class received the educational program in the classroom and at home (Group A) and three classes received the program in the classroom only (Group B). The educational program was integrated into the classes' daily curriculum for five weeks. It included storytelling with large picture books, chewing consciously while eating lunch, singing a song with gestures, and greetings before and after meals (both groups). Group A also used a paper textbook and was provided information by the leaflet to encourage guardians to implement the program at home. Chewing habits before and after intervention were evaluated: (1) guardians completed seven questionnaire items related to chewing habits and chewing movement and (2) the number of chews and time spent eating the test meal were measured by a portable chewing sensor. Both approaches improved the children's chewing habits; however, no difference was found between the two groups. We concluded that this intervention could be used to improve chewing habits in young children even without active involvement of their guardians.