Program Rationale — Play With Your Food

Why is the Play With Your Food program needed?

Many children in the United States do not eat the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables (Gerritsen et al., 2019). According to a 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 50% of American children reported not eating any vegetables daily, and 32% reported that they did not eat any fruits daily (Hamner et al., 2023). Poor diet can lead to several health issues, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, impaired immune functioning, and atypical physical and cognitive development (Berthon et al., 2021). The impacts of an unhealthy diet are far-reaching, including a decrease in the potential for academic achievement. In a 2011 study, Basch et al. found that overall health significantly impacted how students could engage in schoolwork. Children with suboptimal health were more likely to miss school days and had lower academic engagement when they did attend school (Basch et al., 2011). Children from homes with lower socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to have health problems resulting from unhealthy diets, which can impact their potential for academic success (Thomas et al., 2019). Unhealthy students also put a strain on already stretched household budgets. According to Ling et al. (2023), the average yearly medical cost for a child with diet-related illnesses is approximately $2100. A parent earning minimum wage would need to work 190 hours just to cover their child’s outpatient medical bills.

According to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) (2023), more than half of the elementary schools in Benton County are Title I schools. Title I schools are designated to receive increased federal funding to support low-SES student communities with food, clothing, support staff, and classroom materials (NCES, 2019). Title I students are often subject to diet-related health disparities linked to income (Wu et al., 2019). The ADE data shows that the high school graduation rate in Benton County is lower for students who attended Title I elementary school, demonstrating that these income disparities may contribute to academic potential (ADE, 2021). Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among Title I elementary school students can help alleviate diet-related health issues while supporting academic engagement and achievement.

The Play With Your Food program aims to address diet-related health issues through multi-sensory food exposure and nutrition education in Benton County’s Title I elementary schools. Research suggests children develop food preferences through repeat exposure (Nekitsing et al., 2019). These food preferences developed during childhood often indicate our taste predispositions later in life (Schmitt et al., 2019). Furthermore, research has established that a significant factor in food aversions is the sensory experience of eating that food (Nekitsing et al., 2019). Multi-sensory fruit and vegetable-specific exposure has been shown to lead to statistically significant increases in overall liking of fruits and vegetables and consumption of those foods (Poelman et al., 2019).

Play With Your Food will benefit elementary school students, their families, and their teachers. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption will benefit students by supporting long-term positive health outcomes (Gerritsen et al., 2019). By working toward better health, Play With Your Food can influence academic achievement, improve mental health, and increase quality of life (Wu et al., 2019). Families will benefit from the program through take-home materials in both English and Spanish that will accompany the student experience. Families will be invited to engage in exposure activities at home through these materials. The improved health outcomes from the Play With Your Food program may also decrease the likelihood of developing diet-related chronic illnesses, lowering families' spending on medical bills. Education materials will include ideas for exposure activities, multiple ways to prepare fruits and vegetables, and information on minimizing food waste to reduce the strain on the household budget. Materials will also be provided to classroom teachers on incorporating nutrition education into their existing curriculum. These materials will help teachers include nutrition education in their classrooms and their own lives.

The Play With Your Food program will be successful for four reasons.

Title I schools rely heavily on the National School Lunch Program to provide student’s daily meals. Therefore, fruit and vegetable exposure that is incorporated into school lunch will have a significant impact on the daily diet-related choices of the students.
By including families in the program, students can reap the benefits of social support in learning to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Program success will be bolstered by teachers including nutrition in their curriculum in their classrooms. This will provide students with an environmental shift at home, in class, and the cafeteria to assist with healthy behavior change.
Play With Your Food will include culturally relevant foods and recipes that represent the demographic makeup of Benton County, including foods from Mexico, the Marshall Islands, Guatemala, and India, which will help add to the program’s success.

References

Arkansas Department of Education (n.d.). Graduation Rate. Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved March 19, 2024, from https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/public-school-accountability/school-performance-and-monitoring/graduation-rate

Arkansas Department of Education (n.d.). SY 2023- 2024 - Title I Status. Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved March 19, 2024, from chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Files/SY_2023-2024_Title_I_Status_OSEFP.pdf

Basch, C. E. (2011). Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap. The Journal of School Health, 81(10), 593–598. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00632.x

Berthon, B. S., McLoughlin, R. F., Jensen, M. E., Hosseini, B., Williams, E. J., Baines, K. J., Taylor, S. L., Rogers, G. B., Ivey, K. L., Morten, M., Sena, C. R. D. S., Collison, A. M., Starkey, M. R., Mattes, J., Wark, P. A. B., & Wood, L. G. (2021). The effects of increasing fruit and vegetable intake in children with asthma: A randomized controlled trial. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 51(9), 1144–1156. https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.13979

Gerritsen, S., Renker-Darby, A., Harré, S., Rees, D., Raroa, D. A., Eickstaedt, M., Sushil, Z., Allan, K., Bartos, A. E., Waterlander, W. E., & Swinburn, B. (2019). Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. PloS One, 14(8), e0221107–e0221107. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221107

Hamner, H. C., Dooyema, C. A., Blanck, H. M., Flores-Ayala, R., Jones, J. R., Ghandour, R. M., & Petersen, R. (2023). Fruit, Vegetable, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Young Children, by State — United States, 2021. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 72(7), 165–170. https://doi.org/10.15585/MMWR.MM7207A1

Ling, J., Chen, S., Zahry, N. R., & Kao, T. A. (2023). Economic burden of childhood overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity Reviews, 24(2), e13535-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13535

National Center for Education Statistics. Fast Facts: Title 1. Retrieved March 6, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=158

Nekitsing, C., Hetherington, M. M., & Blundell-Birtill, P. (2018). Developing Healthy Food Preferences in Preschool Children Through Taste Exposure, Sensory Learning, and Nutrition Education. Current Obesity Reports, 7(1), 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-018-0297-8

Poelman, A. A. M., Cochet-Broch, M., Cox, D. N., & Vogrig, D. (2019). Vegetable Education Program Positively Affects Factors Associated With Vegetable Consumption Among Australian Primary (Elementary) Schoolchildren. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 51(4), 492-497.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2018.11.002

Schmitt, S. A., Bryant, L. M., Korucu, I., Kirkham, L., Katare, B., & Benjamin, T. (2019). The effects of a nutrition education curriculum on improving young children’s fruit and vegetable preferences and nutrition and health knowledge. Public Health Nutrition, 22(1), 28–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018002586

Thomas, M. M. C., Miller, D. P., & Morrissey, T. W. (2019). Food insecurity and child health. Pediatrics (Evanston), 144(4). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-0397

Wu, X. Y., Zhuang, L. H., Li, W., Guo, H. W., Zhang, J. H., Zhao, Y. K., Hu, J. W., Gao, Q. Q., Luo, S., Ohinmaa, A., & Veugelers, P. J. (2019). The influence of diet quality and dietary behavior on health-related quality of life in the general population of children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Quality of Life Research, 28(8), 1989–2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-019-02162-4

The Play With Your Food program aims to address diet-related health issues through multi-sensory food exposure and nutrition education in Benton County’s Title I elementary schools. Research suggests children develop food preferences through repeat exposure (Nekitsing et al., 2019). These food preferences developed during childhood often indicate our taste predispositions later in life (Schmitt et al., 2019). Furthermore, research has established that a significant factor in food aversions is the sensory experience of eating that food (Nekitsing et al., 2019). Multi-sensory fruit and vegetable-specific exposure has been shown to lead to statistically significant increases in overall liking of fruits and vegetables and consumption of those foods (Poelman et al., 2019).

Play With Your Food will benefit elementary school students, their families, and their teachers. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption will benefit students by supporting long-term positive health outcomes (Gerritsen et al., 2019). By working toward better health, Play With Your Food can influence academic achievement, improve mental health, and increase quality of life (Wu et al., 2019). Families will benefit from the program through take-home materials in both English and Spanish that will accompany the student experience. Families will be invited to engage in exposure activities at home through these materials. The improved health outcomes from the Play With Your Food program may also decrease the likelihood of developing diet-related chronic illnesses, lowering families' spending on medical bills. Education materials will include ideas for exposure activities, multiple ways to prepare fruits and vegetables, and information on minimizing food waste to reduce the strain on the household budget. Materials will also be provided to classroom teachers on incorporating nutrition education into their existing curriculum. These materials will help teachers include nutrition education in their classrooms and their own lives.

The Play With Your Food program will be successful for four reasons. First, Title I schools rely heavily on the National School Lunch Program to provide student’s daily meals. Therefore, fruit and vegetable exposure that is incorporated into school lunch will have a significant impact on the daily diet-related choices of the students. Second, by including families in the program, students can reap the benefits of social support in learning to eat more fruits and vegetables. Third, program success will be bolstered by teachers including nutrition in their curriculum in their classrooms. This will provide students with an environmental shift at home, in class, and the cafeteria to assist with healthy behavior change. Finally, Play With Your Food will include culturally relevant foods and recipes that represent the demographic makeup of Benton County, including foods from Mexico, the Marshall Islands, Guatemala, and India, which will help add to the program’s success.

By providing benefits to students, families, and teachers, Play With Your Food will provide low SES students with the opportunities and benefits linked to positive health.