Evaluation of 'Schoolgruiten': Determinants, effects and differences according to ethnic background and socio-economic status.

The consumption of ample amounts of fruits and vegetables (F&V) is associated with lower cancer risk, cardiovascular disease risk and risk for obesity. However, intakes of F&V are lower than recommended and have declined in the Netherlands, especially among children and adolescents. About half of Dutch primary school children eat to few F&V and over the past 10 years vegetable consumption among these children has declined with 23% while fruit intakes have gone down with 29%. To encourage F&V consumption among these children, it is necessary to have insight into the determinants of F&V consumption. It has been proposed that F&V availability at schools may be one important determinant and a unique intervention was launched to improve school-availability of F&V in Dutch primary schools: Schoolgruiten. The present application proposes to use existing and already funded data-collection within the Schoolgruiten project to study (I) potential personal, social environmental and physical environmental determinants of F&V intakes in a cross-sectional survey among approximately 1300 primary-school children and their parents, and (II) the impact of the schoolgruiten F&V scheme on intakes among primary school children in a quasi-experimental design among approximately 1000 children and their parents.