Alicia S. Landry PhD, RD, LDN

Nina Bell Suggs Professor

The University of Southern Mississippi

Childhood Obesity According to data from the 2011 National Survey of Children's

Health, 39.7% of Mississippi’s children age 10-17 are overweight or obese compared to 31.3% nationwide

Vulnerable Populations Mississippi has the largest proportion of African-Americans in the

US (38%) Mississippi has one of the largest populations at or below the

poverty line (29%)

Poor Fruit and Vegetable Intake 5.2% - 11.4% of children are meeting 5 servings of fruits &

vegetables/day

Exposure to Fruits and Vegetables As a child’s exposure to fruits and vegetables increases, so does

their preference Can take up to 8 – 10 exposures

Farm to School (F2S) An endeavor implemented by a school that connects students to

farms and the foods produced on local farms F2S practices should be specific to individual school district needs,

resources available, and local issues The 3 C’s: Cafeteria Curriculum Community

Day of the Week Local Item Monday Blueberries Tuesday Yellow Squash Wednesday Baked Sweet Potato & Mustard

Greens Thursday Cucumbers Friday Steamed Zucchini

Significant increases in beliefs about fruits and vegetables

Significant correlations between fruit and vegetable intakes and access to fruits and vegetables pre- and post-test

Interventions such as Farm to School have effectively increased fruit and vegetable availability in schools, yet student consumption of fruits and vegetables still fall below recommendations

Increasing fruit and vegetable intake could benefit students’ health as well as decrease waste for school meal programs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate fruit and vegetable plate waste during Farm to School Month in two elementary schools

A sample tray containing all lunch items was photographed to establish standard serving sizes.

Students’ lunch trays were photographed before and after consumption.

Total fruit and vegetable waste was calculated by comparing photos of trays before and after consumption to the sample tray.

Descriptive data were generated using SPSS (v. 20).

Of 177 5th grade students, 74 (42%) participated.

Participants were generally Caucasian (63%), female (50%), and 10 years old (53%).

A total of 84.5 vegetable servings and 35.7 fruit servings were selected while 32.6 vegetable servings and 14.7 fruit servings were wasted (38.6% and 41.2%, respectively).

Students consumed an average of 1.4 vegetable servings and 0.55 fruit servings.

Peas and carrots were the most wasted vegetable (86.6%) while canned pears were the most wasted fruit (100%).

As in similar school plate waste studies, students in this study wasted large amounts of fruits and vegetables.

Short lunch periods lasting only thirty minutes could be a factor.

While both schools offered a wide variety of fruit and vegetable choices, maintaining this variety may be difficult due to cost of ingredients and preparation time.

Despite the small sample size, this study can yield valuable information for decreasing plate waste in schools by describing fruit and vegetable items most wasted.

Palatability and preferences should be considered.

Encourage consumption of fruits and vegetables through nutrition education, taste-testing, and appealing presentation of fruits and vegetables .

Alicia S. Landry PhD, RD, LDN Nina Bell Suggs Professor The University of Southern Mississippi Department of Nutrition and Food Systems alicia.landry@usm.edu

Participatory Marketing of Fruits and Vegetables During School Lunch Bryce M Abbey PhD Christopher Gustafson PhD Kate A Heelan PhD

Objective Recent studies suggest that providing increased access

alone to fruits and vegetables does not necessarily lead to an increase in consumption (Cummins, 2005 & 2009).

The power of marketing to promote increased consumption of healthy foods could lead to substantive improvements in consumption.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of student involvement in the design of promotional materials in schools on fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption.

Methods Four elementary schools participated:

Control school (CON). Involvement Only (IO) Marketing Only (MO) Involvement and Marketing (I&M)

Methods 4th grade students at the I&M school and

IO school received 2 lessons on health benefits of F&V. All students in both schools were asked to

design materials to promote F&V.

Methods Promotional items from the I&M school

were subsequently posted in the I&M and a Marketing Only (MO) school.

Methods Consumption data was assessed by

analysis of ~100 random students’ trays (2nd-5th grade) at each school.

Post Control Pre

Results Figure 1. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Compared to Control School

Results Figure 2. Vegetable Consumption Compared to Control School

Results Figure 3. Mean Vegetable Consumption by Schools

Discussion The increased consumption may be due

to several factors such as increased familiarity, a greater sense of choice, and higher intrinsic motivation.

Application of Results: Including students in the design of healthy food

promotional materials appears to enhance consumption of Fruits &Vegetables.

FIT KID TEXT connecting students and parents to nutrition education, school meals and healthy happenings using today’s technology Shannon FitzGerald MS RDN LD Avon Lake City Schools, OH

4 strategic focal points: Promote school meals and drive

participation using expertise; connecting a dietitian to the school community

Engage students and parents to shift their perception of school meals; bringing esteem to schools

Create an approach of healthy communication to impact communities well-being.

Build a tool/resource to do all the above.

Why is there need? Fulfill wellness policy- required under Healthy, Hunger Free Kids

Act 2010-nutrition education needs to be addressed Create positive image for school lunch Increase school meal participation Provide solid scientifically backed health information Market schools role in health-celebrating healthy curriculum,

activities Impact parent/student/family healthy living-public health

initiative at the national level Reinforce healthy learning environment for overall

achievement and success

References: Improving health education. University of Maryland https://www.mobilecommons.com/blog/2014/06/improve-healthcare-education-in-your-community-with-text-messaging/ education and texting: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/05/embracing-the-cell-phone-in-the-classroom-with-text-messaging-assignments/ medical-pediatrics http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/133/3/e491.extract wellness best practices: http://www.ohiofoodindustryfoundation.org/ http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/resources_profile.php?id=216 Research http://hej.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/07/10/0017896914540294.abstract http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/obesity/Publications/nsw-healthy-eating-strategy.pdf

Vision: Invigorate school communities by utilizing modern technology to promote opportunities, creating an impact for healthy living as well as celebrating healthy achievements.

Utilizing a modern texting platform, create an innovative approach to help schools promote themselves, promote healthy lunches, and to satisfy the law-wellness policy.

Mission:

How? Using text platform, set up schools It is opt-in FIT KID TEXT provides and sends text Text 1-2x/week healthy messages, happenings and

promotions (general or specific to school) Specialized messages for specific school/age group Would be able to offer report to school summarizing

impact for district- participation, # of texts, responses, polls. In this summary would offer ways to grow and needs for the next year, recommitment for next year. Ability to monitor progress and outcomes.

With all the Social Media Platforms, why texting?

A success story! FIT KID TEXT pilot program, now offering to

other districts as a full service nutrition education program

FIT KID TEXT offers high school sports teams nutrition coaching.

FIT KID TEXT can be part of a schools wellness committee and staff wellness too.

Target consumer: K-6 parents, 7-12 parents 7-12 students 7-12 student athletes School staff for wellness

survey results 2014-15 93% of respondents said their family's food

choices have been influenced by FIT KID TEXT 85% had an improved perception of the

school meal program because of FIT KID TEXT 100% reported being more mindful of their

family's health while receiving messages 100% tried a food and/or activity idea from FIT

KID TEXT 100% of students and parents plan to re-enroll

in FIT KID TEXT for the next school year!

FIT KID TEXT, LLC born! www.fitkidtext.com

Questions?