One‐year and Two‐year Effects of The USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) on Students' Fruit and Vegetable Intake Frequency and Variety

Abstract

FFVP is a federally‐funded free fruit (F) and vegetable (V) distribution program. Students in qualified elementary schools receive fresh FV as snacks at school. Most previous studies addressed the program over 1‐year. This study examined both 1‐year and 2‐year effects of FFVP on students' FV intake frequencies and variety. Data were previously collected from students in 20 intervention schools and 4 control schools, matched by propensity score, during 2010‐2012 school years. Students reported their F and V intake frequencies from the previous day. Students also reported whether they ate more than 1 kind of F and more than 1 kind of V every day. These dependent variables were compared over 3 times (pretest, 1‐year posttest, and 2‐years posttest) using hierarchical linear regression to test the difference between students' total F intake frequency, total V intake frequency, frequency of students eating more than 1 kind of F, and more than 1 kind of V after the 1‐ and 2‐year program periods. Results indicated that students ate F more often after 1 year (difference 0.35 times/day, p=0.003) and 2 years (difference 0.59 times/day, p=0.001) of intervention. No improvement was found in intervention students' V intake frequency over time. No change was found in the proportion of students that ate a variety of either F or V. No change was found in F or V intake frequencies and percent of students that ate a variety of F or V daily in control schools over time (p>0.05). Thus, FFVP only improved F intake frequency during the implementation period. Reasons for no improvement in V intake frequency, F variety, and V variety over time need more study.