– This study is based on previous research which suggests that the Dudes programme increases children's fruit and vegetable consumption for school-provided meals by assessing its effectiveness in increasing the provision and consumption of fruit and vegetables in home-provided meals.
– Two cohorts of children participated from six schools in the West Midlands in the UK, one receiving the Food Dudes intervention and a matched control group who did not receive any intervention. Participants were children aged four to seven years from six primary schools, three intervention (n=123) and three control schools (n=156). Parental provision and consumption of fruit and vegetables was assessed pre-intervention, then three and 12 months post-intervention. Consumption was measured across five consecutive days in each school using digital photography.
– No significant increases in parental provision or consumption were found at three or 12 months for children in the intervention schools, however, increases were evident for children in the control group.
– Further development of the Food Dudes programme could develop ways of working with parents and children to increase awareness of what constitutes a healthy lunch.
– This is the first independent evaluation to assess the influence of the Food Dudes programme on parental provision and children's consumption of lunchtime fruit and vegetables.
