School nutrition program about fruits and its impact on knowledge, fruit preference and fruit intake in 8–10 year old Slovak children

Abstract Introduction Fruit plays an important role in the prevention of various diseases. Eating fruit in Slovak children is not entirely adequate. Nutrition programs include the possibility of improving children's eating habits. Study design Non-randomized controlled trial. Aim To create a nutrition education program, implement it and analyze its effectiveness on children's eating habits. Methodology The school nutrition program was focused on fruit and fruit intake for health. We assessed the knowledge level of fruit, fruit preference and fruit intake in an intervention and control group. Before the nutrition program children reported their home availability of fruit, and fruit model (parent/teacher/friend as a model of fruit intake). We used Chi-square test, t -test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Sample The research enrolled 136 children aged 8–10 years ( M  = 8.67, SD = 0.55). The school nutrition program has been accomplished in 68 children (intervention group), the control group consisted of 68 children. Results We found a higher level of knowledge ( p  = 0.000) and higher fruit preference ( p  = 0.001) in the intervention group. The fruit intake in the intervention and control group was similar ( M  = 7.51 vs. M  = 6.74, p  = 0.059). There is not a significant effect of the nutrition program on the frequency of eating fruits in children after controlling for the effect of covariate – “fruit availability” [ F (1.133) = 3.254, p  = 0.074], but the program has a significant effect on the frequency of fruit eating in children after controlling for the covariate – “parent as a fruit model” [ F (1.133) = 5.033, p  = 0.027] and “teacher as a fruit model” [ F (1.133) = 4.071, p  = 0.046]. Conclusion Parents and teachers play an important role in supporting the effectiveness of a nutrition program and the modification of children eating habits.