Eatable Alphabet as a Nutrition Education Tool

Measuring the Effectiveness of Eatable Alphabet Cards as a Nutrition Education Tool in a Pediatric Weight Management Program

This pilot randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness of Eatable Alphabet cards, a child friendly nutrition education tool, on child weight and related behaviors in a clinical sample of 2 to 10-year-old children with overweight/obesity, referred to a pediatric weight management program.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Child Obesity; Child Nutrition Disorders; Child Overnutrition
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Usual Care; Behavioral: Eatable Alphabet

Detailed Description

The goal of this research study is to determine whether the use of Eatable Alphabet cards in addition to standard weight management in a primary care setting will increase vegetable consumption. Additional outcomes that will be examined include fruit consumption, child engagement in meal selection and preparation, and clinic follow-up. If the intervention shows a significant effect in the above outcome measures, Eatable Alphabet cards can be implemented as a standard component of obesity management in primary care settings. It is hypothesized that the intervention will increase vegetable consumption, increase child engagement in meal selection and preparation, and increase clinic follow-up.

The study design is randomized control trial, in which the control group includes parent-child dyads receiving care as usual in the weight management program, including nutrition education, and the intervention group includes parent-child dyads receiving care as usual in the weight management program plus Eatable Alphabet cards in addition to typical nutrition education. All study participants will be families receiving care at the POWER Kids Weight Management Program at 410 Lakeville Road, with the child between the ages of 2 and 10 who have overweight or obesity. The primary outcome is parent reported frequency of child vegetable consumption. Secondary outcomes include: parent reported frequency of child fruit consumption, parent reported child engagement in meal selection/preparation, follow-up weight management visit attendance, and child anthropometric outcomes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 160
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New Hyde Park, New York, United States, 11040
      • Cohen Children's Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 10 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• New patient at Cohen Children's Medical Center POWER Kids weight management program (defined as not having been seen by the program within the past 2 years)
• Child between the ages of 2-10
• English-speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

- No appropriate caregiver available for consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Usual Care; Usual care in the POWER Kids weight management program includes a nutrition assessment and education by a registered dietician nutritionist (RD). This includes taking a detailed dietary history, and providing individualized counseling, motivational interviewing, and nutrition education handouts/ web-based resources.	Behavioral: Usual Care; Please see above description of usual care.
Experimental: Eatable Alphabet; The intervention group will receive usual care, as described above, plus a set of Eatable Alphabet cards, which will be utilized during the visit for counseling and education, and given to the family to take home and use as they wish.	Behavioral: Eatable Alphabet; Eatable Alphabet is a set of kitchen activity cards developed by ChopChop Family, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, with funding from the CDC (https://www.chopchopfamily.org/eatable-alphabet/). It includes a series of alphabet cards with family-friendly recipes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in parent reported child vegetable consumption (servings/day)	Parents will complete pre and post intervention/usual care survey measures of vegetable consumption.	1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in parent reported child fruit consumption (servings/day)	Parents will complete pre and post intervention/usual care survey measures of fruit consumption.	1 month
Parent reported child engagement in meal selection/preparation	Parents will complete pre and post intervention/usual care survey measures of child engagement in meal selection/preparation.	1 month
Follow-up weight management visit attendance	We will determine whether the patient returned for scheduled follow-up visit via medical record review.	6 months
Change in child body mass index (BMI) z-score	Weight and height measured by clinical staff at the baseline visit and all subsequent visits over the next six months will be used to calculate body mass index (BMI=kg/m^2). Software will use Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reference standards to convert BMI into a BMI z-score based on the child's age and sex. Change in BMI z-score will be defined as BMI z-score 6 months (+/- 3 months) after the intervention visit minus BMI z-score at the baseline intervention visit.	6 months
Change in weight for age (WFA) z-score	Weight measured by clinical staff at the baseline visit and all subsequent visits over the next six months will be used to generate weight for age (WFA) z-scores using CDC reference standards. Change in WFA z-score will be defined as WFA z-score 6 months (+/- 3 months) after the intervention visit minus WFA z-score at the baseline intervention visit.	6 months
Change in percent of the 95th percentile of BMI for age and sex	Weight and height measured by clinical staff at the baseline visit and all subsequent visits over the next six months will be used to calculate body mass index (BMI=kg/m^2). Software will use CDC reference standards to convert BMI into a percent of the 95th percentile for the child's age and sex. Change in percent of the 95th percentile will be defined as percent of the 95th percentile 6 months (+/- 3 months) after the intervention visit minus percent of the 95th percentile z-score at the baseline intervention visit.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northwell Health
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Michelle W Katzow, MD, MS, Northwell Health and Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Related Info

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 3, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 20, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): December 22, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 22, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 19, 2025
• Last Verified: May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: nutrition education; pediatric weight management; child overweight/obesity; fruit and vegetable consumption
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Body Weight; Overweight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity; Nutrition Disorders; Child Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition
• Other Study ID Numbers: 21-1152

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No