Browsing by Subject "vihannekset"

Introduction In addition to families and home environments, preschools can shape children’s eating habits. Children’s fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption remains below recommendations. Nutrition interventions should be aimed at young children when eating habits develop and be implemented in influential settings, like preschools. The preferred method to study and measure consumption is by weighing foods. However, weighing is hardly used in preschool-settings especially in group-level research. Aims The aim was to examine the effect of the DAGIS intervention on the consumption of FV in preschool meals. The secondary aim was to determine whether the results differed from the impact of DAGIS intervention on the FV consumption at group level when the amount of plate waste was considered. Materials and methods The DAGIS intervention was a randomized controlled trial (2017–2018) aiming to promote lifestyle and self-regulation skills affecting the energy-balance of Finnish 3–6-year-old. The 23-week intervention included 32 preschools. Vegetable consumption was measured at group level for three days in preschool before and after the intervention by weighing vegetables served, serving waste and plate waste. Data analyses were performed using Chi-square test, t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and linear regression. Results In the follow-up, the median consumption of fresh FV, salad mixes, warm vegetables as a side dish and canned FV (25th; 75th quartile) per child was 81.3 g (55.2; 120.6) in the control group and 72.1 g (65.7; 119.3) in the intervention group. The total consumption of FV per child in the intervention group was not higher than in the control group after intervention. The inclusion of plate waste did not change the results adjusted by municipality. Conclusions There was no increase in FV consumption in the intervention group after intervention compared to the control group. Apart from highlighting FV consumption, future group-level interventions should be targeted at serving of vegetables. They should also critically consider the necessity of collecting plate-waste, especially if it increases research cost and burden.