(P28-043-23) A Preschool Intervention for Healthy Food Preferences: Feasibility Study

Objectives: Many preschool-age children in the US consume unhealthy diets with low intakes of fruits, vegetables, and other recommended food groups. Unhealthy diets in childhood may be a risk factor for undesirable weight gain leading to overweight/obesity and impaired cognition, with lasting effects in adulthood. We assessed the feasibility of an intervention to modify food preferences, assessed as voluntary intake, in an early childhood education program, and evaluated its effect on food intake during the school day and executive function.

Methods: Thirty-six children were recruited from an early childhood education program in Boston, MA. Two early childhood classrooms were cluster randomized to participate in either an 8-week play-based curriculum with the provision of target healthy foods or an assessment-only control group. The curriculum for the intervention group included games, art activities, cooking, gardening, and taste testing; during snack and lunchtime every day, target foods were added to usual foods, and children could eat as much or as little of each food as they wished. Target foods included: whole grain muffins, whole grain cereal, strawberries, grapes, apples, blueberries, kale chips, carrots, and tomatoes. A novel enriched bar previously tested by our group for beneficial effects on cognition was also included. Children in the control group were provided with the target foods during outcome assessments only. The assessments consisted of measured intakes of each target food, including the cognitive supplement (g/day), provided at snack and lunchtime. Changes in intake of each target food over time, and executive function, were evaluated using repeated measures ANOVA and Poisson regression, respectively.

Results: There was a significant interaction between randomization group and time from baseline to endline on kale chip intake (F(1,57)=10.11, P=0.002), with increased intake over time in the intervention group. There was no significant effect of the intervention on executive function (RR=0.95, CI=0.8-1.2, P=0.6).

Conclusions: These pilot results showed that it is feasible to implement a play-based curriculum to increase intake of healthy foods in an early childhood education setting.

Funding Sources: Boston Foundation to SBR