Great Sensations: a program to encourage heart healthy snacking by high school students

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Nutrition Education
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• High salt intake is a significant risk factor for high blood pressure.
• Inner-city high school students often have poor dietary habits, including high consumption of salty snacks.
• Targeted interventions are needed to promote healthier snack choices among adolescents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Great Sensations program in reducing salty snack consumption and increasing low-salt snack intake among inner-city high school students.
• To assess the impact of different educational strategies (classroom instruction, parent outreach, media campaign) on snack selection behaviors.
• To determine the short-term and long-term effects of the intervention on dietary habits.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental design was employed with 490 Black high school students from two schools.
• Eight classes were randomly assigned to classroom instruction or parent outreach.
• All students in the experimental school received a media campaign; a nearby high school served as the control group.

Main Results:

• Students receiving classroom instruction showed significantly lower salty snack selection and higher low-salt snack selection at posttest and eight-week follow-up.
• The media campaign alone led to a temporary decrease in salty snack selection, with effects waning by eight weeks.
• The control group exhibited minimal changes in snack selection throughout the study period.

Conclusions:

• Classroom instruction demonstrated the most promising results in modifying snack choices among adolescents.
• While short-term positive effects were observed, the intervention's impact on snack selection was not sustained at six months.
• Further research is needed to develop long-lasting strategies for promoting healthy eating habits in adolescent populations.