Additional Information

Here are some things you probably need to know to get your community health initiative off the ground.

Eat Well and Keep Moving

A classroom-based intervention curriculum called “Eat Well and Keep Moving” was evaluated in urban schools at 4th and 5th grade classes ion the Fall of 1995 among several Baltimore, MD schools.

Here is what was done:

  • Several classes were designated the intervention group in which a curriculum units were taught into math, science, language arts, and social studies classes.
  • The student population was primarily African-American in Inner City settings
  • The goals of the curriculum was to decrease fat and saturated fat intake, decrease television watching and increase time spent in vigorous physical activity.
  • Activities and campaigns such as “Get 3-at School and 5-a-day” to increase fruit and vegetable intake; “My TV Unplugged” to decrease television viewing; and the creation of “walking Clubs” are some examples
  • The students were followed for a two year period.
  • After two years, 24 hour diet recalls and physical activity recalls were conducted on the children by trained professionals

What did they find out?

Students in the intervention group were compared to the non-intervention group and:

  • The total energy from fat in the control was 35.20% and in the intervention group, 33.70%
  • The total energy from saturated fat in the control group was 12.57% and in the intervention group it was 11.93 %
  • The number of fruit and vegetable servings in the control group was 1.41 servings per 4184 kJ/day and in the intervention group it was 1.78 servings per 4184 kJ/day
  • Vitamin C intake in the control group was 58.5 mg per 4184 kJ/day and in the intervention group it was 67.6 mg per 4184 kJ/day
  • Television watching and playing with video games was 4.02 hours/day in the control group and 3.28 hours/day in the intervention group
  • Vigorous physical activity did not change among the groups and less than 2 hours/day was devoted to physical activity in both groups.

Conclusions

  • The “Eat Well and Keep on Moving” program did result in some improvements in dietary habits and reduced television watching
  • Those in the intervention group while making progress did not reach specific targets such as 5 servings of fruits and vegetables/day (3.6 servings/day unadjusted for energy) not lowering their fat intake to 30% of calories.
  • There was no increase in physical activity
  • The authors stressed that one problem with failing to find changes in physical activity was due to several factors
    • Both groups had minimal physical education programs
    • Both groups had limited after school programs
    • Safety concerns and lack of community facilities constrained the program
  • Despite these limitation, the Baltimore public schools implemented the program in all 50 of its schools

Resources:

Gortmaker SL, Cheung LWY, Petersen KE, Chomitz G, Cradle JH, Dart H, Fox MK, Bullock RB, Sobol AM, Colditz G, Field AE, Laird N. 1999. Impact of a school-based interdisciplinary intervention on diet and physical activity among urban primary school children. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 153: 975-983.