The Food Doctors: A pilot study to connect urban children and medical students using nutrition education

Abstract

Background: Children in the USA face increasing nutrition-related health risks, including obesity rates of 16.9% – a figure that has more than tripled over the past four decades. Nutrition education is beneficial to improve children’s health through obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy habits, and the elementary school years are a key time to implement health education interventions. Objective: To develop a medical student created and operated nutrition education intervention for urban underserved elementary school students. Design: The Food Doctors (TFD) programme is a hands-on, interactive, in-class nutrition education pilot initiative for elementary school students and adheres to the established tenets of effective in-class nutrition education whenever possible: (1) interactive hands-on curriculum, (2) use of culturally relevant topics and (3) the inclusion of effective evaluation techniques. Setting: Urban elementary school classrooms in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Method: A literature review and feedback from partner schools’ needs informed curriculum development. Institutional review board approval was sought and study materials prepared. The pilot programme was carried out at partner schools during class time. Results: A total of 83 students participated in the pilot study: 46 third-grade students and 37 fourth graders. Evaluation focused on assessing student baseline knowledge and exploring post-programme nutrition knowledge gains. Conclusion: TFD pilot programme demonstrated gaps in baseline nutrition knowledge among elementary school students and showed improved post-programme ability to correctly answer basic nutrition knowledge questions.