Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness Curriculum Promotes Positive Behaviors in 3rd-5th Graders Compared to Control

Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness Curriculum Promotes Positive Behaviors in 3rd-5th Graders Compared to Control Period

The Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness (CHFFF) curriculum was evaluated in 3rd-5th graders, hypothesizing that change pre- to post- CHFFF education would be greater than in the same child during a delayed intervention control period.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Childhood Obesity; Nutrition Poor
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: CHFFF nutrition education

Detailed Description

Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness (CHFFF) is a Cornell curriculum for 3rd-6th graders targeting behaviors to prevent obesity and chronic disease risk: fewer sweetened drinks; more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; fewer high-fat and high-sugar foods; and active play. The 6 lessons use experiential learning, food preparation, active games, goal setting, and a family newsletter. It was evaluated in 561 Expanded Food and Nutrition Education (EFNEP) participants in 27 after-school and 28 in-school groups in 5 NY counties in 2015 using a quasi-experimental design, with a delayed-intervention control period prior to CHFFF. Youth completed a self-reported survey 3 times: at initial enrollment, after a 6-week no-intervention control period, and after receiving the 6 weekly CHFFF lessons. Outcome measures included dietary intake scores created based on factor analysis, and related precursors. It was hypothesized that change pre- to post- CHFFF education would be greater than in the same child during the delayed intervention control period. Following CHFFF, youth improved significantly (p<.05) compared to their control period in overall diet quality, vegetable intake, fruit intake, soda/fast food intake and choice, and the frequency with which they read nutrition facts labels, shared about healthy eating with their family, and tried a new food.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 561
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants in EFNEP nutrition education in schools and in after-school programs in 5 counties in NY during the 2014-2015 school year

Exclusion Criteria:

• Younger than 3rd grade (n=3)
• Those with fewer than 4 lessons (n=9)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CHFFF nutrition education; Expanded Food and Nutrition Education (EFNEP) participants in 5 NY counties in 2015	Behavioral: CHFFF nutrition education

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Child Diet	Dietary intake was assessed via a self-reported survey, then 4 dietary scores were created based on factor analysis: overall diet quality, vegetable intake, fruit intake, and soda/fast food intake.	Youth completed the survey at initial enrollment, after a 6-week delayed-intervention control period, and after receiving CHFFF.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Psychosocial mediators	Assessed via a self-report survey, these included soda/fast food choices, and the frequency with which they read nutrition facts labels, shared about healthy eating with their family, and tried a new food.	Youth completed the survey at initial enrollment, after a 6-week delayed-intervention control period, and after receiving CHFFF.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Cornell University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Wendy Wolfe, PhD, Cornell University Division of Nutritional Sciences

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Choose Health: Food, Fun, and Fitness curriculum and related resources

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 23, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 11, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): June 11, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 2, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 14, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): May 15, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 22, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 8, 2022
• Last Verified: March 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Evaluation; Nutrition education; EFNEP; Child diet
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Overweight; Body Weight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity; Malnutrition
• Other Study ID Numbers: CHFFF0518

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Submitting all collected IPD to the Ag Data Commons at the USDA National Agricultural Library.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Plan to submit in May 2018
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Public access

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No