Trial reportThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2025
A cluster randomized factorial trial of school-lunch salad bars and marketing on elementary students' objectively measured fruit and vegetable consumption.
Trial report in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03283033 (Salad Bars and Students' Fruit and Vegetable Consumption), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Salad Bars and Students' Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: A Group-randomized Trial With Objective Assessments
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The association between exposure to food marketing and dietary intake among youth in six countries.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSchools in the United States play a crucial role in promoting healthy eating habits. Despite numerous public health efforts, children's consumption of fruits and vegetables (FVs) still fall short of recommended amounts. Advocates have promoted school lunch salad bars as an effective strategy to increase primary students' FV consumption, but rigorous research has lagged behind their efforts. This study evaluated the effectiveness of introducing school lunch salad bars, FV marketing, and the combination of both on elementary students' objectively measured fresh FV selection and consumption.
methodsA cluster-randomized factorial trial was conducted among 13 elementary schools from 12 public school districts participating in the U.S. National School Lunch Program with more than 50% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. Schools were assigned randomly to one of four conditions: Salad Bar with FV Marketing (n = 4), Salad Bar-only (n = 3), FV Marketing-only (n = 3), and wait-listed control (n = 3). The conditions were assessed at three measurement waves. Students' (N = 3,080) aggregated fresh FV selection and consumption were measured via digital scales (grams) using objective plate waste methodology. Zero-inflated negative binomial models were used to examine differences in consumption (accounting for excess zeros and overdispersion) by condition and wave.
resultsNo significant differences were observed for students selecting FVs across any condition. In contrast, after ten weeks of exposure, stand-alone school lunch salad bars significantly increased students' consumption of FV (IRR = 1.84, 95% CI 1.12, 3.04) compared to the wait-listed control. Findings for FV marketing alone suggested increased consumption (IRR = 1.60, 95% CI 0.97, 2.64) relative to control, but were non-significant and inconclusive. Salad bars in combination with FV marketing showed the strongest effect on FV consumption relative to the wait-list control, with a significant increase observed at ten weeks (IRR = 2.07, 95% CI 1.29, 3.31).
conclusionsStand-alone salad bars are effective at increasing elementary students' FV consumption after a minimum of ten weeks. The combined intervention of salad bars and FV marketing demonstrated the greatest improvement in FV consumption. These findings support the promotion of salad bars in schools as a strategy to increase FV consumption among students.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03283033 (preregistered on: 9/14/2017).
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