1st Prize for Best Abstract NSA Conference 2019 won by Angeliek Verdonschot

We are very proud to announce that Angeliek Verdonschot, PhD researcher at the Consumption and Healthy Lifestyles group, received an award (1st Prize) for Best Abstract at the 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) in Newcastle, Australia.

The conference brought together more than 270 delegates from diverse nutrition, public health, policy, animal and science backgrounds. The theme, NUTRITION SCIENCE: The epicentre of Health, highlighted the importance of the Society and the opportunities and challenges currently being faced in nutrition.

The goal of the Nutrition Society of Australia is to bring to the fore and communicate the scientific value and relevance of nutrition science and related disciplines in Australia. 

Abstract

An evaluation of the EU-Schoolfruit program and the Taste Lessons program in the Netherlands

Angeliek Verdonschot¹ , Tamara Bucher² , Clare Collins² , Emely De Vet¹ , Annemien Haveman-Nies¹

^{1. Consumption and Healthy Lifestyles (CHL), Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherlands 2. Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia}

A healthy diet is important for optimal child growth and development. Opportunities to encourage and supporting children to adopt healthy eating behaviour should be explored. Dutch nutrition education programs such as EU-Schoolfruit (EUS) and Taste Lessons (TL) provide school children with fruits and vegetables (FV) (EUS) and classroom based nutrition education (TL). However, the effectiveness of specific program components has not yet been evaluated. This research examines the effectiveness of individual components of current Dutch nutrition education programs targeting primary school children (n=1441, schools n=38) aged 9-11 years. Child nutrition knowledge, food literacy and FV consumption are measured by a questionnaire. A quasi-experimental design with three arms will compare: (1) schools that implement EUS (n=11), (2) schools that implement EUS and TL (n=17) and (3) schools that do not implement nutrition education (n=10). Outcomes are assessed pre-intervention (T0), during the intervention (T1), and 6 months post-intervention (T2). Preliminary results from T0 and T1 indicate significant increase in nutrition knowledge only for children of schools that participated in both programs (EUS and TL), compared to the control group (p=0.00), but no significant increase in FV intake (fruits p=0.19 and vegetables p=0.20). Results will contribute to improving future nutrition education programs.