A nutrition intervention programme for lower secondary schools in Greece

Abstract

A pilot nutrition intervention programme for schoolchildren was designed and carried out under the EU programme 'Europe against cancer', from September 1994 until June 1995. Seventy-three students, aged 13-14 years, took part in the study as the intervention group, and 53 more students as the control group. The aim was to develop and implement a nutrition education programme for lower secondary schools with emphasis on the prevention of cancer. Therefore, attention was focused on encouraging, the consumption of fruit and vegetables. The programme was accomplished in three three stages: the assessment of the dietary intakes of the participating adolescents; the intervention-education which lasted ten weeks; and the reassessment of dietary intakes in order to evaluate the impact of the intervention. The intervention did not result in major changes in the dietary habits of the children although small improvements have been observed. The programme has been positively accepted by the administration of the schools and all the participating students showed great interest.