Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Preschoolers: Evaluation of Color Me Healthy

Abstract

ObjectiveDetermine whether Color Me Healthy (CMH), an interactive nutrition and physical activity program for preschool children, increases fruit and vegetable consumption. DesignIntervention study. Data were collected at baseline, 1 week post-intervention, and 3 months post-intervention. SettingChild care centers. ParticipantsPreschool children (n = 263) in 17 child care centers. InterventionChild care centers were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions; children (n = 165) in 10 centers received the CMH curriculum, and children (n = 98) in 7 centers acted as comparisons and did not receive the curriculum. Main Outcome MeasuresProcess and outcome evaluation. Consumption of fruit and vegetable snacks. AnalysisData were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance and hierarchical linear modeling. ResultsChildren who received CMH significantly increased their consumption of fruit snacks by approximately 20.8% and vegetable snacks by approximately 33.1% between baseline assessment and the assessment conducted 3 months after the completion of the CMH program. Hierarchical linear modeling determined that group assignment (ie, CMH or control) was the only significant predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption. Conclusions and ImplicationsFindings suggest that CMH may be used in child care settings for developing healthful eating habits.