Objective: To describe the results of a technology-integrated intervention on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and energy-dense snack intake with third graders experiencing low income.
Design: A 2 × 2 quasi-randomized cluster-block, parallel-group experimental research design.
Setting: Low-income schools in Rhode Island.
Participants: Two-hundred seventeen intervention and 242 control third-grade students in low-income (89.6% and 88.2% free/reduced meals, respectively), ethnically and racially diverse (63% Hispanic/20% Black and 62% Hispanic/18% Black, respectively) schools.
Intervention(s): A 13-week in-school program held once per week for 1 hour. The hands-on, technology-integrated program used a modified version of the Body Quest: Food of the Warrior curriculum.
Main outcome measure(s): Intake of SSB and energy-dense snacks, both salty and sweet snacks, using baseline (week 1) and postassessment (week 13) previous day self-recall.
Analysis: Generalized mixed modeling with nesting.
Results: Intervention students significantly reduced their SSB intake by 38% (0.5 times/d; F[1, 540] = 4.26; P = 0.04) and salty snack intake by 58% (0.8 times/d; F[1, 534] = 6.58, P < 0.01) from baseline to postassessment as compared with the control students.
Conclusions and implications: Findings suggest a technology-integrated curriculum is effective in decreasing SSB and salty snacks in elementary-aged students of low-income, minoritized populations. Improved dietary habits can potentially influence other facets of students' lives.
Keywords: child; health education; school-based; snacks; sugar-sweetened beverages.
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