Impact of Educational Group Intervention on the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables

Overview

The right to food and nutrition is established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as they are basic requirements for promoting and protecting good health. They can also be instruments to evaluate the quality of life of human beings and communities. Awareness of a healthy diet is the first step in behavioral change, and nutritional education can be an instrument for avoiding diseases resulting from both intake deficit and excess. Educational group actions can change food intake. This study will aim at evaluating, planning and implementing the impact of a nutritional education group action concerning the consumption of fruit and vegetables in adult and elderly individuals attended to by a Primary Health Care (PHCU) Unit. It will be a randomized assay involving two groups comprising male and females individuals distributed in the following fashion: Intervention Group, in which the educational group action (EGA) will be performed in addition to routine activities; and Control Group, the individuals from which will only participate in the routine activities in the PHCA (Teaching Health Care Unit). The total sample will comprise 80 individuals with 40 in each group. In order to determine the consumption of fruit and vegetables, a weekday and a Sunday 24-hour recalls will be performed 2 (short-term effects) and 6 (medium-term effects) months after completing the intervention. The educational group activities will consist of two-hour group dynamics and cooking workshops once a week and for five weeks. Serum carotenoid dosages will also be performed in the two groups by sub-sampling (n=40) with the purpose to validate the estimated intake of fruit and vegetables obtained from the recalls.