Middle School-Aged Child Enjoyment of Food Tastings Predicted Interest in Nutrition Education on Osteoporosis Prevention

Feon W. Cheng, Shannon M. Monnat, Barbara Lohse

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: NEEDs for Bones (NFB), based on the Health Belief Model, is a 4-lesson osteoporosis-prevention curriculum for 11- to 14-year-olds. This study examined the relationship between enjoyment of food tastings and interest in NFB. METHODS: NFB was administered by teachers as part of standard practice and evaluated after the fourth lesson using a 21-item survey. Significant clustering of students within classrooms required use of random-intercept multilevel ordinal regression models in SAS proc GLIMMIX, with students nested within classrooms. Analyses considered tasting experience, eating attitudes, sex, grade, and cohort. RESULTS: Students (N = 1619; 50% girls) participated from 85 fourth to eighth grade classrooms (47% sixth grade and 31% seventh grade) in 16 Pennsylvania SNAP-Ed eligible schools over 2 academic years. For all foods tasted, students who did not enjoy the food tasting were less interested in the lesson than students who did enjoy the food tasting (all p <.001); refried beans (odds ratio [OR] = 0.30), soy milk (OR = 0.55), cranapple juice (OR = 0.51), sunflower kernels (OR = 0.48), and Swiss cheese (OR = 0.49). The relationship persisted net of covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Enjoyment of food tasting activities can predict interest in nutrition education on osteoporosis prevention, supporting resource allocation and inclusion of food tasting activities in school-age nutrition education.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)467-476
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of School Health
Volume85
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Child and adolescent health
  • Curriculum
  • Nutrition and diet
  • Teaching techniques

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Philosophy
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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