Exploring intervention components in association with changes in preschool children’s vegetable intake: the BRA-study.

The study investigates what kindergarten staff think about the effect of an intervention aimed at increasing children's intake of vegetables and the serving of vegetables in kindergarten.

The results showed no clear correlations between how useful the participants perceived the intervention components and the amount of vegetables served in the kindergarten. However, the study showed a tendency for the posters to be associated with an increased intake of vegetables in the children, which may also be due to the fact that different intervention components interacted and contributed to the effect. However, the researchers believe that the posters may have had a positive impact and reinforced the messages about how much vegetables should be served and how to encourage children to taste and eat them.

The study is part of the BRA project which aimed to develop, implement and evaluate an intervention programme to promote the intake of vegetables among kindergarten children (3-5 years old at the start of the study). 73 kindergartens in Norway participated (response rate of 15.2%), and consent was obtained from the parents of 633 children (response rate of 38.8%). The intervention components in the kindergartens consisted of an inspiring course day (practical and theoretical kitchen training) in addition to various kitchen resources/utensils and posters reminding staff to serve vegetables and promote the children's intake of vegetables. The kindergarten staff were asked to respond to a written questionnaire in which they were asked to assess the usefulness of the intervention components. In order to assess the children's intake of vegetables in kindergarten, direct observations were made. The amount of vegetables served was recorded by filling out a vegetable diary for five days, during which the weight of the vegetables was also noted.

Kristiansen, A. L., Himberg-Sundet, A., Bjelland, M., Lien, N., Holst, R. & Andersen, L. F. (2021). "Exploring intervention components in association with changes in preschool children’s vegetable intake: the BRA-study". BMC Research Notes, 14:214.