Efficacy of Nutrition Education Implemented among Primary School Students in Jinan

Objective To evaluate the effects of nutrition education on primary school students and their parents.Methods Three hundred and fifty-five students at grade four were drawn from three elementary schools in Jinan and were assigned randomly to intervention l, intervention 2 and control groups. Nutrition education was implemented in two intervention groups for about one semester (6 class hours each group), and their parents were treated as secondary targets. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition education.Results After intervention, scores in nutrition knowledge were increased by 45.20% and 47.99% for students in intervention l group, intervention 2 group respectively. The ability of students to select food was also improved; their diets were tended to balance.Consumption of milk, eggs, vegetables, fruits, soybean products and potatoes increased. Scores in nutrition knowledge for their parents increased by 20.50% and 24.84% respectively, consumption of milk, vegetables and fruits increased. The qualitative study indicated that students began to change their behaviors of skipping breakfast, monophagia and eating snacks. Conclusions The effects of school-based nutrition education are obvious.