The 5 A Day POWER PLUS PRESCHOOL Program will assess the effects of a childcare center focused intervention for promoting increased consumption of fruits and vegetables among preschool aged children to reduce their future risk of cancer. This will be accomplished through a program in childcare centers that provides increased opportunities to taste and eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, provides role models for eating fruit and vegetables, changes the social norms so that eating fruits and vegetables is expected and acceptable, and creates childcare center and home environments that foster increased fruit and vegetable consumption. The childcare center-based intervention will include three components: food service environmental change, taste-testing and food-related classroom type activities as part of the childcare center program, and provider and parent training, education and support. The hypothesis is that an intensive, multi-component childcare center-based program will significantly increase fruit and vegetable consumption in preschool children at lunch and snack. This will be assessed through a trial in which 20 urban daycare centers from within one large midwestern metropolitan area are randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. The primary endpoint will be the number of servings of fruits and vegetables consumed during lunch and afternoon snack measured in a cohort of children who are 15 to 30 months old at baseline and 39 to 54 months old at follow-up. Specifically, the study will evaluate the hypothesis that preschoolers at the intervention sites, following two years of intervention, will consume .5 more servings of fruits and vegetables a day than preschoolers at the control sites. The data will be adjusted for baseline values and recorded based on observed combined intake for lunch and afternoon snack. A secondary outcome will be self-reported child preferences for fruits and vegetables, measured at follow-up with the food preferences card sorting task (CST) developed previously in POWER PLUS. Several moderating variables that may effect consumption in toddlers and preschoolers will also be assessed. Childcare provider practices will be observed and parental practices assessed through a parent survey. The major goal of the study is to achieve a total effect, similar to previous multi-component school based programs, but with a preschool population in a period of development where food preferences, meal patterns, and eating behaviors are being newly established.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01CA059805-09
Application #
6542640
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SNEM-1 (01))
Program Officer
Nebeling, Linda C
Project Start
1993-07-01
Project End
2007-08-31
Budget Start
2002-09-01
Budget End
2003-08-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$531,318
Indirect Cost
Name
Minnesota State Department of Health
Department
Type
DUNS #
804887321
City
St. Paul
State
MN
Country
United States
Zip Code
55164
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Reynolds, Kim D; Bishop, Donald B; Chou, Chih-Ping et al. (2004) Contrasting mediating variables in two 5-a-day nutrition intervention programs. Prev Med 39:882-93
Gray, Clifton; Lytle, Leslie A; Mays, Rita et al. (2002) Foods on students' trays when they leave the cafeteria line as a proxy for foods eaten at lunch in a school-based study. J Am Diet Assoc 102:407-9
Perry, Cheryl L; Zauner, Marguerite; Oakes, J Michael et al. (2002) Evaluation of a theater production about eating behavior of children. J Sch Health 72:256-61
Story, M; Mays, R W; Bishop, D B et al. (2000) 5-a-day Power Plus: process evaluation of a multicomponent elementary school program to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Health Educ Behav 27:187-200
Perry, C L; Bishop, D B; Taylor, G et al. (1998) Changing fruit and vegetable consumption among children: the 5-a-Day Power Plus program in St. Paul, Minnesota. Am J Public Health 88:603-9
Eldridge, A L; Smith-Warner, S A; Lytle, L A et al. (1998) Comparison of 3 methods for counting fruits and vegetables for fourth-grade students in the Minnesota 5 A Day Power Plus Program. J Am Diet Assoc 98:777-82;quiz 783-4