Effects of a Nutrition Education Intervention on Fruit and Vegetables Intakes in College Students

Abstract

Background: Fruits and vegetables are necessary elements of a healthy diet to decrease the risk for chronic diseases, however, a Saudi college student’s intake of fruits and vegetables is less than the optimal everyday consumption. Nonetheless, an intervention might be beneficial in changing health behaviors among college students. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of using nutrition educational interventions to enhance Saudi college students’ fruits and vegetables consumption. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-seven participants were recruited in the nutrition educational intervention. Each participant was assigned to one of two groups (control and nutrition education intervention). The intervention group received weekly nutrition classes for 100 minutes focused on fruit and vegetable consumption benefits for 15 weeks. The control group had education classes which were not related to nutrition. Three-day food records were used to evaluate intake of fruits and vegetables twice during the study period and the change was evaluated by paired samples T-Test. Results: Participants did not eat the recommended portions of fruits and vegetables. However, there were significant mean increases in frequency intakes of fruits and vegetables in the education group by 1.08 servings a day. Conclusion: Nutrition education was an effective method to improve the intake of fruits and vegetables as the study finding suggests.