The Effect of Three Different Dietary Messages on Dietary Intake and Health in Families

N/AActive Not RecruitingNCT01510678

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville45 enrolled

Overview

Examine the effect of three different dietary messages on dietary intake and the health of parents and their children.

The goal of this pilot study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial examining three dietary messages: increase fruits and vegetables \[INCREASE\], decrease energy-dense, non-nutrient dense snack foods \[DECREASE\], or increase fruits and vegetables plus decrease snack foods \[INCREASE+DECREASE\], within a 6-month, family-based obesity prevention intervention. Each condition will also focus on increasing family evening meals and physical activity. Primary hypotheses are: 1) INCREASE + DECREASE will consume a greater ratio of F\&Vs:SFs than INCREASE and DECREASE at 6 months. 2)INCREASE + DECREASE will consume less energy than INCREASE and DECREASE at 6 months.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Obesity

Interventions

Increase Fruits and VegetablesBEHAVIORAL

Children will be encouraged to consume 1 cup/day and 1.5 cups/day of whole fruit, and 1.5 cups/day and 2 cups/day of vegetables for children aged 6 to 8 years and 9 to 12 years, respectively. Children will gradually work towards these goals. Parents will also work towards F\&V goals, with 2 cups/day of whole fruit and 2.5 cups/day of vegetables. Both parent and child will self-monitor these behaviors. As one barrier to consuming F\&Vs is perceived cost of these foods, information regarding lower-cost options for F\&Vs will be included in the manual.

Decrease Snack FoodsBEHAVIORAL

This condition will reduce intake of SFs (i.e., candy, cookies, cakes, ice cream, chips, nuts) to \< 3 servings/week (for children aged 6 to 12 years, the solid fats and added sugar energy limit is 840 kcals/week and the DECREASE goal will help with meeting this limit). Children and parents will gradually work towards meeting these goals and self-monitor these behaviors.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 6 YearsMax age: 12 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Children between ages 6-12 years * BMI percentile \> 5th and \< 85th percentile for age and sex * Have a parent aged \> 21 years with a BMI \> 25 * Have an overweight/obese parent willing to attend intervention meetings * Parent and child speak and read English * Not moving out of the metropolitan area during the course of the investigation Exclusion Criteria: * Reporting that the child and parent planning to participate have dietary restrictions related to fruit and vegetable intake * Physical activity restrictions * A parent reporting that she is pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or currently breastfeeding

Locations (2)

The University of Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

Healthy Eating and Activity Laboratory, University of Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in Dietary intake

Changes in F\&Vs, SFs, energy density, overall energy, and percent energy from fat intake, will be assessed by a three-day food record (two weekdays, one weekend day).