Effect of Nutrition Intervention Using a General Nutrition Course for Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among College Students

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness Of implementing nutrition intervention using a general nutrition Class to promote consumption Of fruits and vegetables in College Students. Design: 3-day food records were collected, verified, and analyzed before and after the intervention. Setting: A midwestern university. Participants: 80 college Students, ages IS to 24, participated ill the study. Intervention: The intervention focused on nutrition knowledge related to prevention of chronic diseases, healthful dietary choices increasing Fruit and vegetable consumption, dietary feedback, and interactive hands-on activities. Main Outcome Measures: Consumption of. total vegetable, fresh vegetable, starchy vegetable, french fries, vegetable juice, total fruit, fresh fruit, canned fruit, and fruit juice. Analysis: Dependent t test was used to analyze the differences in pre- and posttest. Analysis of variance was used to determine differences in dietary changes between groups. Results: Participants significantly increased consumption of not only total fruits and vegetables (P < .005), but also fresh fruits and vegetables (P < .005). Intake of french fries decreased significantly (P < .05). Females responded better to the intervention than males in increasing vegetable consumption (P < .05). Conclusions and Implications: Class-based nutrition intervention focusing on prevention of chronic diseases is a cost-effective approach to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among College students.