Increasing Food Literacy in Preschoolers to Reduce Obesity Risk

Part of paid clinical trials in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Sponsor
Penn State University
Study ID
NCT05977348
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Eating, Healthy
  • Food Preferences
  • Food Selection
  • Obesity, Childhood

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
3 Years - 6 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Healthy Eating Curriculum — BEHAVIORAL
    The Healthy Eating (HE) curriculum is designed to provide children with skills needed to develop healthy eating habits. Each lesson builds upon the overall goal of creating a healthy restaurant. Children are taught to identify differences between GO and WHOA foods, recognize the five food groups, and learn to make healthy food choices.
  • Improving the Classroom Food and Mealtime Environment — BEHAVIORAL
    HBP+ Classrooms will receive additional sensory activities for each lesson (e.g., posters, food models, games) designed to improve the classroom food environment and provide repeated exposure to activities and messages about fruits and vegetables. Teachers in HBP+ classrooms will be provided with additional training on strategies shown to increase food acceptance in preschool children (e.g., modeling, encouraging children to try foods without coercion). In addition, HBP+ classrooms will include "tasting charts" that children will stamp to indicate their liking for each food each week.
  • Parent Education — BEHAVIORAL
    Parents in intervention classrooms will be given access to 8 web-based lessons on food parenting and responsive parenting. Topics include: establishing mealtime routines, shopping healthy on a budget; modeling of healthy eating behaviors; addressing picky eating in children; structuring low-stress mealtime environments; the division of responsibility in feeding, and portion control.
  • ECE Food Acceptance Training — BEHAVIORAL
    HBP+ early childhood educators (ECEs) will be asked to complete an online, self-paced course on increasing food acceptance in preschool children. Topics will include: repeated exposure to foods; modeling of healthy eating behaviors; addressing picky eating in children; structuring low-stress mealtime environments; and the division of responsibility in feeding.

Study Details

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of a nutrition education program on preschool children's food literacy and food acceptance, and to examine the added influence of a healthy eating curriculum and parent education on children's food knowledge and healthful food choices. The project will be evaluated with 450 children ages 3 to 5 years in center-based childcare programs serving predominantly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-eligible families in Pennsylvania. Outcomes for children who receive the added healthy eating curriculum will be compared to children in classrooms that only receive the nutrition education program.

Key Dates

Start date
Oct 3, 2023
Status verified
Mar 2025
Primary completion
Aug 31, 2026
Completion
Aug 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
770 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION

Arms

  • No Intervention: Healthy Bodies Project Comparison (HBP)
    All classrooms will receive the Eating the Alphabet curriculum, which includes 27 lessons that introduce children to a new fruit or vegetable from A-Z each week. Parents in comparison and intervention classrooms will receive access to web-based parent resources related to the Eating the Alphabet curriculum (e.g., food of the week fact sheets with recipes and suggestions for use, and coloring pages).
  • Experimental: Healthy Bodies Project Plus (HBP+)
    Intervention classrooms will receive the Eating the Alphabet curriculum described above for comparison classrooms, in addition to (1) the Healthy Eating curriculum, (2) classroom materials and teacher training designed to improve the classroom food and mealtime environment in ways that increase food acceptance, and (3) parent/caregiver education on responsive food parenting.

Primary Outcome Measure

Children's Food Acceptance [ Time Frame: Change from baseline to post-intervention (~6 months) ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
The Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity ParkPennsylvania16802
Lori A Francis, PhD
[email protected]
814-863-0213

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By research site
The Pennsylvania State University· University Park, PA

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