Fruit and Vegetable Study - Pilot

Summary

Arizona State University is studying how local schools and grocery stores can work together to promote fruits and vegetables and support healthy eating among children and families.

The goal of this pilot cluster clinical trial is to determine whether FFVP+, a public private partnership between elementary schools and regional Bashas' Food City stores, can used to support fruit and vegetable promotion among children and their caregivers. The study will include elementary school students and caregivers from elementary schools participating in the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Can schools and Food City stores coordinate promotion of fruits and vegetables through the FFVP+ partnership?

Can we recruit and retain student and caregiver dyads and collect the planned measures across the school year?

Do children and caregivers in the FFVP+ schools consume more fruits and vegetables than schools not receiving this enhanced intervention.

Researchers will compare schools receiving FFVP+ to schools receiving the usual Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program only. This will help us understand whether the partnership is feasible, whether the recruitment and data collection procedures work, and whether the approach is ready to be tested in a larger trial.

Participants will:

Complete study visits at three time points during the school year

Complete surveys about fruit and vegetable intake, preferences, household food availability, and shopping practices

Have fruit and vegetable intake measured using a non-invasive Veggie Meter device

Have height and weight measured

Students will also have fruit and vegetable intake measured during school lunch using plate waste methods.

Conditions

• Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Children
• Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
• Fruit and Vegetable Selection in the Lunchroom
• Caregiver Nutrition

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

FFVP+

FFVP+ is a public private partnership intervention that links elementary schools participating in the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program with nearby Bashas' Food City stores. Schools continue usual FFVP activities, including offering fresh fruit and vegetable snacks twice weekly, and add school based promotion and messaging to encourage students to ask caregivers about the fruits and vegetables offered at school. The paired Food City store implements coordinated fruit and vegetable promotion for the same or similar items, such as bilingual signage, shelf tags, taste testing, QR codes, in-store announcements, and other feasible produce promotion strategies. The goal is to extend FFVP exposure beyond school and into the household and neighborhood retail food environment.

BEHAVIORAL

FFVP-only

FFVP-only schools will continue usual implementation of the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Through FFVP, participating elementary schools offer students fresh fruit and vegetable snacks at least twice per week during the school day to increase exposure to and acceptance of fruits and vegetables. Schools may continue their usual FFVP-related procedures and any standard nutrition education or food service activities already occurring in the school setting. FFVP-only schools will not receive the added FFVP+ public private partnership components, including coordinated promotion with Food City stores or study-supported store based promotion of FFVP fruits and vegetables.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

  collaborator NIH

• Arizona State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marc A Adams, PhD, MPH · Arizona State University

• Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, PhD · Arizona State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-07-31

Primary Completion

2027-06-30

Completion

2027-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations