Julia HaßErnährungsinterventionen im Setting Schule als ernährungspolitisches Instrument der Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention

About this book deutschenglish

The EU School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) is an EU-wide initiative with the aim of preventing nutrition-related diseases. It was launched within the school year 2009/2010 with a high degree of participation among Member States. The political process of the implementation of the scheme was initiated by the adoption of the “White Paper on A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight, and Obesity-related Health Issues”. As one concrete measure, the White Paper suggested the implementation of an EU co-financed “school fruit scheme”.

North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is one of the federal states of Germany, which decided to participate in the SFVS from the early beginning. Since the 2012/2013 school year, the regional strategy of NRW has been changed. Under the new strategy, the distribution frequency of fruit and vegetables (F&V) deliveries is reduced to F&V deliveries three times a week - resulting in the need for further evaluation studies.

The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectivity of the SFVS NRW in increasing children’s F&V intake, considering the reduction in distribution frequency to F&V deliveries three times a week. Additionally, as the sustainability of the intervention effect of the SFVS is poorly known, the aim of this work was to provide first indications of the stability of the increase in F&V intake, which might be observed in the first implementation year. Furthermore, the study evaluated the benefit of accompanying nutritional education measures and identified personal and social determinants relevant for an increase of the F&V intake of primary school children. The results – based on quantitative analysis - provide important insights for the continued implementation of the SFVS NRW and point out areas where further research is needed.