Abstract
Objective
To test the effect of a nutrition intervention that included education and 2 labeling
components on students' food choices.
Design
Repeat cross-sectional study taking place on 6 dinner occasions before and 6 afterward.
Setting
The study was conducted during dinner meals in a buffet-style dining hall in a university
campus residence, where students paid a set price and consumed all they cared to eat.
Participants
University students (n = 368 to 510) visited the cafeteria on each of the data collection
dates.
Intervention
Fruit and vegetable consumption were encouraged; sugar-sweetened beverage consumption
was discouraged using physical activity calorie equivalent labeling.
Main Outcome Measures
Beverage choices and vegetable/fruit bar visits.
Analysis
Logistic regression was used to compare the proportion of student who selected each
beverage, fruit, or vegetable before and after the intervention, while controlling
for menu and gender as covariates.
Results
There was a significant decrease in the proportion of students selecting a sugar-sweetened
beverage before vs after the intervention (49% vs 41%, respectively; P = .004) and an increase in students choosing water (43% vs 54%, respectively; P < .001). There was a significant increase in students who took fruit after the intervention
(36%; P < .001) vs before (30%). The number of students visiting the vegetable bar significantly
increased from 60% to 72% (P < .001).
Conclusions
This intervention may be a way to encourage healthy dietary choices in campus dining
halls.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 28, 2017
Accepted:
February 8,
2017
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors' conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on www.jneb.org.
Identification
Copyright
©2017 Published by Elsevier, Inc. on behalf of the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior.
