Effectiveness of School-based Nutrition Education Programs that Include Environmental Sustainability Components, on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption of 5–12YearOld Children: A Systematic Review

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dc.contributor.authorKarpouzis, F.
dc.contributor.authorAnastasiou, K.
dc.contributor.authorLindberg, R.
dc.contributor.authorWalsh, A.
dc.contributor.authorShah, S.
dc.contributor.authorBall, K.
dc.date.issued2025
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: This systematic review examined the effectiveness of interventions of school-based nutrition education programs that included environmental sustainability components in addressing fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption and/or variety among children (aged 5–12 years). Methods: The systematic search included MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, Global Health, PsychINFO, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and 3 clinical trial registries. Searches between January 1, 1987, and February 22, 2022, found 18 eligible studies. The Evidence Project risk-of-bias (RoB) tool was used for quality assessment. Results: Sixteen studies had moderate-to-high RoB, and 2 had low RoB. Eight studies reported significant increases in F&V consumption and/or variety. Programs that included environmental sustainability experiential components (i.e., gardening, tasting F&Vs, and cooking activities) and were underpinned by a theoretical framework were more likely to report significant outcomes than studies that reported no effects. Conclusions and Implications: This review underscores the benefits of school-based nutrition education programs that incorporate experiential components of environmental sustainability. These findings could support future researchers in designing strategies to improve children's F&V consumption by incorporating the experiential components of environmental sustainability into nutrition programs. In addition, conducting process evaluations to gather teachers’ input to overcome common implementation barriers, performing long-term follow-up assessments to monitor behavioral changes over time, and implementing school policies to support these programs could also be beneficial. This review was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42020184727).
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityFay Karpouzis, Kim Anastasiou, Rebecca Lindberg, Adam Walsh, Smita Shah, Kylie Ball
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2025; 57(7):627-642
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jneb.2025.02.008
dc.identifier.issn1499-4046
dc.identifier.issn1878-2620
dc.identifier.orcidAnastasiou, K. [0000-0002-3338-5117]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/147701
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1191162
dc.rights© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2025.02.008
dc.subjectnutrition education; environmental sustainability education; school; child; fruit and vegetables
dc.subject.meshHumans
dc.subject.meshFruit
dc.subject.meshVegetables
dc.subject.meshDiet
dc.subject.meshProgram Evaluation
dc.subject.meshHealth Education
dc.subject.meshSchools
dc.subject.meshChild
dc.subject.meshChild, Preschool
dc.subject.meshSchool Health Services
dc.titleEffectiveness of School-based Nutrition Education Programs that Include Environmental Sustainability Components, on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption of 5–12YearOld Children: A Systematic Review
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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