Facts you should know to create a school-based fruit and vegetable campaign.

Why is it important for teens to eat fruits and vegetables?

• Help prevent heart disease, hypertension, and stroke - Fruits and vegetables contain many substances that help to protect you against cardiovascular disease,   such as antioxidants, folate, fiber, potassium, flavonoids, and other phytochemicals.
• Reduce the risk for certain cancers – Many studies have shown that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables have lower risk of cancer. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, as well as folate, which are protective against certain types of cancer.
• Provide a healthy substitute for foods that are high in fat and salt – Fruits and vegetables contain fiber and water, which help to satisfy your appetite. Vegetables  and some fruits are also very low in calories.
• Promote bone health – As a teenager, your bones are still growing, and it is very important to take care of your bones at this age in order to lower your risk for osteoporosis later in life. Many fruits and vegetables contain magnesium, potassium, and calcium needed to promote healthy bones.

For more information: Look at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) resource list for  research about the benefits of fruits and vegetables A Bushel of Reasons to Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables – provides information about  the sources and benefits of nutritional components in fruits and vegetables. Read The Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables: A Scientific Overview for Health Professionals by the Produce For Better Health Foundation.

 

What is the 5 A Day for Better Health Program?

The 5 A Day partnership is a group of governmental and non-governmental agencies working together to raise awareness about the benefits of consuming 5-9 servings of vegetables and fruits per day. It is a simple yet powerful message.

What is a 5 A Day serving?

A "serving" may mean different amounts of food to different people. To be able to count the number of servings correctly, it is important to define a serving as:

3/4 cup (6 oz.) 100% fruit or vegetable juice
One medium fruit (e.g., apple, orange, banana, pear)
1/2 cup cut-up fruit
1/2 cup raw or cooked vegetables
1/4 cup dried fruit (e.g., raisins, apricots, mango)
1 cup raw, leafy vegetables
1/2 cup cooked or canned peas or beans

Do french fries count as part of my 5 A Day?

No, french fries are not included, since they are fried. Fruits and vegetables are also  excluded if they are:

• candy coated (such as chocolate covered raisins)
• heavily sugared or salted (such as dill pickles or candied fruit)
• high in fat (such as avocado, coconut, olives)
• fruit drinks with a small percentage of real fruit juice (ades, punch, drinks)
• fruit roll-ups

For more information on how to calculate number of 5 A Day servings, see the 5 A Day Fact Sheet, provided by the Minnesota Department of Health.

 

How many high school students consume recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables?

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do a nationwide survey of high school students every two years to understand the percentage of youth who engage in risk behaviors (do things that could harm them). One area surveyed is nutrition.

In the latest 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), here are highlights of the nationwide results:

• 21.4% of students ate the recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Female students (19.7%) were less likely to meet 5 A Day recommendations than male students (23.3%).
• 67.1% of students reported consuming a green salad within the last week. Female students (71.5%) were more likely to consume salad than male students (62.5%).
• 47.2% of students ate carrots at least once during the last week, and 85.2% ate at least one vegetable other than carrots or potatoes during the last week.
• 84.4% of students ate at least one piece of fruit during the last 7 days, and 83% drank 100% fruit juice during the last 7 days.

For more information on the latest findings of the CDC survey, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/

What factors influence fruit and vegetable consumption among teens?

Understanding factors that affect whether teens eat enough fruits and vegetables is important, so you can reach the groups that need to hear your message the most. This doesn’t mean that everyone in a specific group eats enough fruits and vegetables, or that  the common factor causes them to eat more produce, but it does mean that you are more likely to find fruit and vegetable consumers who have these common factors or characteristics.

You are more likely eat fruits and vegetables if you: have family or friends that encourage you to eat fruits and vegetables have fruits and vegetables available at home are female and trying to lose weight are an athlete have spiritual or religious beliefs that affect your health behaviors consume a low fat diet are white or Hispanic; African American teens report consuming fewer servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

It is also helpful to know what makes teens want to eat healthy foods, as well as what prevents them from eating more fruits and vegetables. Focus groups with teenagers revealed some of the perceived benefits and barriers to consuming healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables:

Table 1. Comments and concerns expressed by teens about eating healthy foods⁸

For information and tips on how to incorporate new fruits and vegetables in your diet, look at:

The Fruit and Vegetable of the Month posted by the CDC, featuring detailed descriptions of specific fruits and vegetables, along with background information, tips on selection, storage, and preparation, and interesting recipes to help you incorporate new foods into your diet.

Dole’s Fruit and Vegetable Encyclopedia allows you to select from an alphabetical list of fruits and vegetables to learn about their history, nutritional information, as well as snack ideas.

• Media Campaign – Materials were developed around monthly themes described in Table 1 below. Examples of materials include:
  • Large cafeteria display
  • Food giveaways
  • Ethnic menus
  • Student photographs, artwork, and collages
  • Table tents
  • Signs, posters
  • Public service announcements (PSA)
  • Faculty Fruit and Vegetable Baskets
  • Faculty Tip Sheets
  • Students contests

Table 1. Monthly themes and promotions of Gimme 5¹

• Workshops – Students participated in workshops, that were approximately an hour long, each including a taste test, with the following themes:
  • Fresh Start – Students evaluated their own eating habits and brainstormed strategies to promote healthy eating to their classmates
  • Body Works – Focused on eating as it relates to appearance and athletic performance
  • Fast Food: Go for the Greens – Students looked at fast-food menus to find healthy options
  • Fresh Snacks – Students practiced reading nutrition labels and choosing healthy snacks
  • Microwave Magic – Students prepared vegetable recipes using a microwave

• Fresh Choices – focused on increasing the availability, variety and taste of fruits and vegetables meeting Five A Day serving size in school meals by:
  • Planning Fresh Choice menus
  • Purchasing fruits and vegetables as menu items and recipe ingredients
  • Preparing foods
  • Promoting the program

As a result, the following materials were given to food service workers, along with guidelines to follow:

• Fresh Choices Manual – guide for food service workers
• Fresh Choices recipe file box – 35 recipes which were taste-tested by high school students
• Fresh Choices ethnic menus – 21 ethnic menus, each including at least 2 vegetables, 1 fruit, and an entrée containing vegetables were created using the taste-tested recipes.

• Parental Involvement, "Raisin’ Teens" – raised awareness, provided education, and asked for parental support for the Gimme 5 program by:
  • Showcasing media displays, activities, and conducting taste-tests of Gimme 5 recipes at parent-teacher organization (PTO) meetings
  • Mailing parents colorful brochures featuring tips for purchasing fruits and vegetables, recipes, and nutrition information on the fruits and vegetables being promoted in the school.
  • "Gimme 5 Alive" parent newsletter
  • "Ripeline" – a mail service inviting parents to submit nutrition-related questions, and answers were posted in the next newsletter
  • Mailing parents a calendar promoting ethnic events

Results:

• Students rated whether or not they liked specific campaign strategies. Percentage of students reporting approval of:

• Food giveaways – 97%
• Marketing Stations – 94%
• Table Tents – 88%
• Contests – 87%
• Posters – 85%
• Public Service Announcements – 67%

• Test scores showed improvement in knowledge related to fruits and vegetables after the campaign, and daily servings of fruit and vegetables usually consumed increased by 14%.

Guidelines for school-based fruit and vegetable promotion programs

The CDC recommends that school-based programs offering nutrition education among youth meet the following guidelines. These seven recommendations below summarize strategies that are effective in conducting a nutrition education campaign among youth. After each CDC recommendation, there is information on how the Leading the Way to 5 A Day Program addresses this issue:

1. Policy: Seek input from all members of the school community to develop a coordinated school nutrition policy that promotes healthy eating through classroom lessons and a supportive school environment.

   The Leading the Way to 5 A Day program encourages you to brainstorm and identify a list of people within the school community who make decisions that influence how many and what type of fruits and vegetables are available within the school.

2. Curriculum: As part of a sequential, comprehensive health education curriculum that begins in preschool and continues through secondary school, implement nutrition education designed to help students adopt healthy eating behaviors.

   One of the optional modules in the Leading the Way to 5 A Day program, community outreach, encourages you to reach out to middle schools and elementary schools in your area to inform them about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables.

3. Instruction: Provide nutrition education through activities that are fun, participatory, developmentally appropriate, and culturally relevant.

   As a student-developed campaign, you are developing activities and events with your target audience (your peers) in mind. Based on the market research you do as well as your own experiences, you can make informed decisions about the preferences of the students in your school.

4. Program Coordination: Coordinate school food service with nutrition education and with other components of the school health program to reinforce messages about healthy eating.

   One of the optional modules in the program, Modifying the Marketing Environment, helps you to identify ways to work with food service to increase the access and availability of fruits and vegetables. Even if you choose to focus your efforts on the consumer marketing module, you may ask school food service if you can use the cafeteria as a venue for your planned events (i.e. displays, taste testings, recipe contests, raffles).

5. Staff Training: Provide staff who are involved in nutrition education with adequate preservice and ongoing in-service training that focuses on teaching strategies for promoting healthy behaviors.

   The Marketing Research module of the program asks campaign developers to find out what their target audience knows about the health benefits of fruits and vegetables as well as what students’ attitudes are towards fruits and vegetables before developing materials for the campaign. By gathering this information before designing the campaign, you can focus your messages on weak areas, and your peers are more likely to be interested in what you have to say.

6. Family & Community Involvement: Involve family members and the community in supporting and reinforcing nutrition education.

   The community outreach module provides ideas and tools to involve family members as well as community organizations in promoting your campaign. Since teenagers eat most of their meals outside of school hours, asking others in the students’ network such as parents and restaurants to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption can be an important adjunct to your campaign efforts.

7. Evaluation: Regularly evaluate the program’s effectiveness in promoting healthy eating and make changes as appropriate.

   Evaluation is a key component of the Leading the Way to 5 A Day program. Before implementing the campaign, the program encourages you to pretest your campaign materials using focus groups, so that you can identify strong and weak components of the campaign strategy and modify materials if necessary. In order to measure the effects of your campaign, the program recommends that you administer the same survey before and after you run the campaign.

References:

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2. Lytle LA, Varnell S, Murray DM, Story M, Perry C, Birnbaum AS, Kubik MY.   Predicting adolescents' intake of fruits and vegetables. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2003 Jul-Aug;35(4):170-5.
3. Neumark-Sztainer D, Wall M, Perry C, Story M. Correlates of fruit and vegetable intake among adolescents. Findings from Project EAT. Prev Med. 2003 Sep;37(3):198-208.
4. Beech BM, Rice R, Myers L, Johnson C, Nicklas TA. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to fruit and vegetable consumption of high school students. J Adolesc Health. 1999 Apr;24(4):244-50.
5. Pesa JA, Turner LW.  Fruit and vegetable intake and weight-control behaviors among US youth. Am J Health Behav. 2001 Jan-Feb;25(1):3-9.
6. Baer Wilson D, Nietert PJ. Patterns of fruit, vegetable, and milk consumption among smoking and nonsmoking female teens. Am J Prev Med. 2002 May;22(4):240-6.
7. Krebs-Smith SM, Cook A, Subar AF, Cleveland L, Friday J, Kahle LL. Fruit and vegetable intakes of children and adolescents in the United States.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996 Jan;150(1):81-6.
8. O’Dea JA. Why do kids eat healthful food? Perceived benefits and barriers to healthful eating and physical activity among children and adolescents. J Am Dietet Assoc. 2003 Apr;103(4):497-504.