Nutritional education and fruit and vegetable intake: a randomized community trial

Abstract

We conducted a community trial-type intervention including a sample of 80 families living in a low income neighborhood in the municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2004. The intervention relied on nutritional education to increase the participation of fruit and vegetables in the family diet, and was administered in the form of three two-hour meetings during three consecutive weeks. To evaluate the immediate impact of this educational intervention, families were randomly divided into two groups (intervention and control). Only the immediate impact of the intervention was evaluated, based on the participation of fruit and vegetables in the family's total food purchases in the months prior to and following the intervention. The comparison, which was favorable to the intervention group, showed a 2.9 percentage point increase (95% CI: 0.32; 5.39) in the proportion of total calories derived from fruit and vegetables.