%0 Journal Article
%T The Food Doctors: A pilot study to connect urban children and medical students using nutrition education
%A Ahmad El-Arabi
%A Bryan Johnston
%A David Nelson
%A Krista Tuomela
%J Health Education Journal
%@ 1748-8176
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0017896918816735
%X Children in the USA face increasing nutrition-related health risks, including obesity rates of 16.9% ¨C a figure that has more than tripled over the past four decades. Nutrition education is beneficial to improve childrenĄ¯s health through obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy habits, and the elementary school years are a key time to implement health education interventions. To develop a medical student created and operated nutrition education intervention for urban underserved elementary school students. The Food Doctors (TFD) programme is a hands-on, interactive, in-class nutrition education pilot initiative for elementary school students and adheres to the established tenets of effective in-class nutrition education whenever possible: (1) interactive hands-on curriculum, (2) use of culturally relevant topics and (3) the inclusion of effective evaluation techniques. Urban elementary school classrooms in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. A literature review and feedback from partner schoolsĄ¯ needs informed curriculum development. Institutional review board approval was sought and study materials prepared. The pilot programme was carried out at partner schools during class time. A total of 83 students participated in the pilot study: 46 third-grade students and 37 fourth graders. Evaluation focused on assessing student baseline knowledge and exploring post-programme nutrition knowledge gains. TFD pilot programme demonstrated gaps in baseline nutrition knowledge among elementary school students and showed improved post-programme ability to correctly answer basic nutrition knowledge questions
%K Elementary schools
%K MyPlate
%K nutrition education
%K obesity
%K urban
%K USA
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0017896918816735