Ten-Year Trends in Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Knowledge, Intent and Behavior - Special Issue

This is a report of ten-year trends in US fifth-grade student knowledge of fruit and vegetable (FV) recommendations, behavioral intent, consumption, and relationships between FV knowledge, behavioral intent and behavior. The study was conducted from 2001-2011 through the Healthy Hearts for Kids (HH4K) online instructional program. A total of 17,559 students from 1,048 schools in 49 US states participated. ANOVA and Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated for all variables. Significant changes over the 10-years were found for knowledge of FV recommendations, fruit consumption, intention to consume FV immediately and in one year, and to choose fruits rather than candy tomorrow and in one year. Effect size was small for all variables. No significant changes in vegetable consumption were found. Generally, data revealed significant correlations between behavior and intent items, but not knowledge. Despite ongoing efforts to inform children about FV consumption, there has been minimal change in fifth-grade children’s overall FV knowledge, behavior and intent, revealing a need for more than just knowledge based education and interventions. It is critical that effectiveness, sustainability and scalability be considered with future interventions.