Newsletters get co-eds to eat more veggies

NEW YORK, Sep 23 (Reuters) South Dakota researchers have come up with a relatively simple and inexpensive way to get college kids to eat more fruit and veggies -- send them newsletters.

Dr Kendra K Kattelmann of South Dakota State University in Brookings and colleagues designed a series of four one-page newsletters on the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables. The newsletters were ''stage-based,'' meaning the first was targeted to individuals who had not begun to think about eating fruits and vegetables, and chiefly addressed why it's important to eat enough of them.

Subsequent newsletters were designed for people preparing for or contemplating this change, and provided more how-to tips and recipes. ''They were messages that were tailored for the person's readiness to change,'' Kattelmann explained.

The researchers randomized 314 college students aged 18 to 24 to receive the four newsletters over a four-month period along with a half-hour motivational counseling session with a registered dietitian, or to a control group that didn't receive newsletters or counseling.

Students who participated in the intervention increased their fruit and vegetable consumption by one serving a day, while those in the control group added less than half a serving daily.

Encouraging young adults to adopt good eating habits can help them stay healthy for life, Kattelmann noted in an interview with Reuters Health. College students are at a pivotal stage, she and her colleagues add in their report, because they are often living away from home and preparing their own meals for the first time.

The researchers suggest that other colleges could use their program over the course of a semester to help students eat a healthier diet. ''It is a practical and relatively inexpensive intervention that has the potential of not only improving the long-term health of young people, but also their future children as well,'' they conclude.

REUTERS BDP BS0820