This project examined the effectiveness of Youth Chef Academy (YCA), a classroom-based experiential culinary and nutrition literacy curriculum for middle-school students. The primary study hypothesis was that students assigned to YCA would demonstrate greater improvement in F/V and whole grain consumption compared to students in the control group. Eight classrooms in eight public K-8 schools participated in the project. Classrooms were assigned to intervention or control condition in a non-randomized manner. YCA was delivered by project staff to all of the students in the four intervention classrooms. Students completed a survey to assess primary and secondary outcomes at baseline, six-week curriculum completion, and at twelve-week curriculum completion (YCA extended twelve-week curriculum cohort).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
248
Nutrition and culinary curriculum delivered in the classroom
Change in fruit and vegetable consumption
Change in fruit and vegetable consumption calculated from self-reported times per day consuming fruits and vegetables using the 7-item tool from the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
Change in whole grain consumption
Change in whole grain consumption calculated from self-reported times per day consuming whole grains using a revised version of the 8-item tool from the Power of 3 project
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
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