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© 2018 Stea et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background

The obesity epidemic presents a major public health challenge, and a poor diet quality has been identified as one of the most important contributing factors. Whereas a sufficient fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with several positive health outcomes, the long-term effect on overweight and obesity is unclear. Thus, the aims of this study were to investigate if one year with free school fruit had any effect on weight status 14 years later, and if it affected the birth weight of the participants’ children.

Methods

In 2001, 10 -12-year old Norwegian children, received one year of free school fruit in the intervention study “Fruits and Vegetables Make the Marks” (FVMM) and in 2016, a total of 1081 participants of 2049 eligible responded to a follow-up survey. Multilevel logistic regression was used to investigate if one year of free school fruit was associated with weight status and with birthweight status of the offspring. The analyses were adjusted for gender, educational level, and the offspring analysis also for parents’ weight status, and the nested design (child/parent).

Results

The odds ratios of being overweight (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.70, 1.24) or having a child with high or low birth weight (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.21, 1.30) in the intervention group compared to the control group were not statistically significant, 14 years after the intervention period.

Conclusions

One year of free school fruit did not have an effect on weight status on the participants or birth weight of their offspring, 14 years after the intervention period. Although, results from the present study contribute to fill the knowledge gaps concerning long-term effects of public health efforts on weight status, more follow-up studies with larger samples are warranted.

Details

Title
The effect of an extra piece of fruit or vegetables at school on weight status in two generations - 14 years follow-up of the Fruit and Vegetables Makes the Marks study
Author
Tonje Holte Stea; Eline Tønnesson Tveter; te Velde, Saskia J; ⨯ Frøydis Nordgård Vik; Knut-Inge Klepp; Elling Bere
First page
e0205498
Section
Research Article
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Oct 2018
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2120171220
Copyright
© 2018 Stea et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.