School based fruit and vegetable programs - the record so far

Lorelei DiSogra of United Fresh passes on this important report called, "School-based fruit and vegetable schemes: A review of the evidence," published in December 2007. The report is authored by Dr Karen Lock, Department of Public Health and Policy, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The thumbnail sketch - these programs work.

Here is the summary from the report:

SUMMARY
This report presents a systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions to promote fruit and/or vegetable consumption in children in schools worldwide. The results show that school-based schemes are effective at increasing both intake of, and positive knowledge and attitudes to fruit and vegetable intake. Of the 35 studies included, 65% of studies in both younger and older age groups showed statistically significant increases in fruit and vegetable intake at follow, with none decreasing intake. There was marked heterogeneity in study design, measurement and reporting of intake which makes comparisons of effect size or meta-analysis difficult. Differences in intervention effect ranged from +0.14 servings/day to +0.99 servings/day. 25 studies had follow up periods greater than 1 year and this review provides evidence that both large (national) and smaller (local) scale FV schemes can have long term impacts on consumption. One study showed that free school fruit and vegetable schemes can also help to reduce inequalities in diet. Only one study showed an effect on both increasing fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing overweight in the same scheme. It was unsurprising that other studies showed no impact on overweight or obesity, as changes to weight would be expected to occur at longer time scales that changes in dietary intake.
This review concludes that school fruit and vegetable schemes work. Effective school programmes have used a range of approaches and been organised in ways which vary nationally depending on differences in the food supply chain and education system.