CHANGES IN NUTRIENT INTAKES OF ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL-CHILDREN FOLLOWING ASCHOOL-BASED INTERVENTION - RESULTS FROM THE CATCH STUDY

Background. Twenty-four-hour recalls were used to assess the change in nutrient intake among elementary-age school children exposed to the C hild and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH). The purpo se of this paper is to compare changes in nutrient intakes between tre atment groups, sexes, ethnic groups, and the four CATCH sites. Methods . Twenty-four-hour recalls were administered to a subsample of the CAT CH cohort at baseline in third grade and following the intervention in fifth grade (n = 1,182). Changes in nutrient levels for total energy, dietary cholesterol, and dietary fiber and changes in the proportion of energy from fat, protein, carbohydrate, and fatty acids were studie d looking at differences by treatment group, sex, ethnicity, and site. Mixed-model analysis of variance was used to examine the change in nu trient intake, defined as intake at follow-up minus intake at baseline . Results. Students in the intervention schools showed statistically s ignificant differences in the changes in total energy and proportion o f energy from total fat, saturated fat, protein, and monounsaturated f at compared with students in the control group. Students in the interv ention group decreased their total fat intake from 32.7% of energy to 30.3% of energy and saturated fat from 12.8% of energy to 11.4% of ene rgy. There were no significant differences in intervention effects by ethnic group, sex, or site. Differences in nutrient change between the school-only and the school-plus-family intervention groups were nonsi gnificant. Conclusion. The results show that a school-based interventi on can positively influence children's intakes of total fat and satura ted fat, suggesting that population-based approaches for reducing card iovascular risk factors in children are feasible and effective. The re sults are also important in showing that the intervention was effectiv e in Caucasian, African-American, and Hispanic students, in boys and g irls, and across four regions of the United States. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.