Examining the long-term effectiveness of a culinary nutrition education intervention on children's dietary practices and variety

The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a culinary nutrition education program at a 3-month follow-up, in terms of children's dietary practices and variety. The randomized-controlled trial was conducted among Malaysian children aged 10–11 years, in a school-based setting. The main intervention components include a parent-child session on the home food environment, followed by 5 experiential healthy meal preparation sessions, conducted fortnightly with each session lasting an hour. Dietary data were collected using an adapted guided form, in line with the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents at baseline, post-intervention, and a 3-month follow-up (intervention: n = 41, control: n = 42, drop-out rate: 15.3 %). Overall, the children recruited were mainly from low-to middle-income households (76 %) whose families attained at least secondary or tertiary education (95 %). At the 3-month follow-up, significant group and time interaction effect (p < 0.001) revealed that the intervention group consumed whole grains (F-stat = 24.04), fruits (F-stat = 30.45), and vegetables (F-stat = 77.69) more frequently, while the frequency consumption of the control group remained relatively stable over time. Similarly, desirable change was seen favoring the intervention group (p < 0.001) for refined grains (F-stat = 30.96), processed foods (F-stat = 49.74), and sweetened beverages consumption (F-stat = 40.78). Further, the intervention group had good diet variety during dinnertime, compared to the controls (χ² = 5.655, p = 0.017). Findings highlighted the prospect of experiential culinary nutrition programs in advocating healthy eating behavior among children.