Effect of a Technology-Integrated Curriculum on Sugary Drink and Snack Intake of Elementary-Aged Youth Experiencing...

To describe the results of a technology-integrated intervention on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and energy-dense snack intake with third graders experiencing low income.

A 2 × 2 quasi-randomized cluster-block, parallel-group experimental research design.

Low-income schools in Rhode Island.

Two-hundred seventeen intervention and 242 control third-grade students in low-income (89.6% and 88.2% free/reduced meals, respectively), ethnically and racially diverse (63% Hispanic/20% Black and 62% Hispanic/18% Black, respectively) schools.

A 13-week in-school program held once per week for 1 hour. The hands-on, technology-integrated program used a modified version of the Body Quest: Food of the Warrior curriculum.

Intake of SSB and energy-dense snacks, both salty and sweet snacks, using baseline (week 1) and postassessment (week 13) previous day self-recall.

Generalized mixed modeling with nesting.

Intervention students significantly reduced their SSB intake by 38% (0.5 times/d; F[1, 540] = 4.26; P = 0.04) and salty snack intake by 58% (0.8 times/d; F[1, 534] = 6.58, P < 0.01) from baseline to postassessment as compared with the control students.

Findings suggest a technology-integrated curriculum is effective in decreasing SSB and salty snacks in elementary-aged students of low-income, minoritized populations. Improved dietary habits can potentially influence other facets of students' lives.