Abstract
Schoolyard gardens are emerging as a nutrition education tool in academic settings.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of garden-based nutrition
education on adolescents’ fruit and vegetable consumption using a nonequivalent control
group design. Sixth-grade students (n=99) at three different elementary schools made
up a control and two treatment groups. Students in the treatment groups participated
in a 12-week nutrition education program, and one treatment group also participated
in garden-based activities. Students in all three groups completed three 24-hour food-recall
workbooks before and after the intervention. A repeated-measures analysis of variance
showed that adolescents who participated in the garden-based nutrition intervention
increased their servings of fruits and vegetables more than students in the two other
groups. Significant increases were also found in vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber intake.
Although further research is needed, the results of this study seem to indicate the
efficacy of using garden-based nutrition education to increase adolescents’ consumption
of fruits and vegetables.
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Biography
J. D. McAleese is patient advocate, Portneuf Medical Center, Pocatello, ID; at the time of the study, she was a graduate student in the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello.
Biography
L. L. Rankin is an associate professor, Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello.
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© 2007 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
