The Impact of a Short-Term Intervention on Adolescent Eating Habits and Food Knowledge

Objective: To evaluate the effect of school-based intervention on the nutritional knowledge, eating habits and physical activity of high school students.

Methods: A prospective questionnaire-based study. Students of the 8-11^th grade from one high school in Israel prospectively fulfilled anonymous, previously validated, questionnaires at the beginning of the academic year (September 2014). During the following year, vending machines containing milk products were installed within the school facility, and the students were given 2 informative nutrition lectures regarding proper nutrition for age, calcium requirement and importance, and physical activity. In addition, one active sport-day was performed. At the beginning of the following academic year (September 2015), the students fulfilled the same questionnaires again. We analyzed the results for the whole study group and according to students` age: 13-15 years (Group I) and age 16-18 years (Group II).

Results: 330 teenagers, age 15.1 ± 1.39 years, 56% males, were included. Response rate was 83.6%±0.4% to multiple-choice questions, 60.7%±0.5% to multiple section tables, and 80.3%±0.9% to open questions. Post-intervention there was an increase in the habit of eating breakfast (57.0% vs. 47.5%, p=0.02) and a decrease in purchasing food at school (61.6% vs 54.3%, p=0.003). No changes were observed in consumption of milk products, knowledge regarding calcium and vegetable consumption, or sport activities.

Conclusion: A combination of active and passive nutrition-oriented intervention at high school resulted in a significant change in part of the eating habits, but nutritional knowledge and physical activity remained unchanged.