Teaching Healthy Eating to Preschoolers to Support Food Choices
Tests a healthy eating program for children ages 3 to 5 in childcare centers.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Penn State University
- Where
- University Park, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Increasing Food Literacy in Preschoolers to Reduce Obesity Risk
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 770 people, planned
- Started
- 3 Oct 2023
- Planned end
- Aug 2026
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets no study treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Healthy Eating Curriculum
- Improving the Classroom Food and Mealtime Environment
- Parent Education
- ECE Food Acceptance Training
- Record updated
- 17 March 2025
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for preschool children enrolled in the childcare centers taking part in the study. It tests a nutrition education program with healthy eating lessons and parent education.
- Age
- 3 to 6 years
- Sex
- All
Main reasons for not taking part
- Severe food allergies that stop the child from eating the project foods
- A developmental or sensory disability that affects eating or learning
- Not fluent in English (children and caregivers)
- Child not regularly present when the lessons are given
- Parent involved in feeding or preparing the child's meals less than 50% of the time
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 6 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Preschool children enrolled in participating centers
Who cannot take part
- Severe food allergies that prevent children from consuming project foods
- Presence of a developmental or sensory disability that affects food intake and/or learning
- Lack of English fluency (children and caregivers)
- Children not regularly present during days/times that intervention lessons are delivered
- Parents who are not involved in feeding/preparing meals for children at least 50% of the time
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 3 and 6 years old?
Where in United States
- The Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, United StatesContact: Lori A Francis, PhDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of a nutrition education program on preschool children's food literacy and food acceptance, and to examine the added influence of a healthy eating curriculum and parent education on children's food knowledge and healthful food choices. The project will be evaluated with 450 children ages 3 to 5 years in center-based childcare programs serving predominantly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-eligible families in Pennsylvania. Outcomes for children who receive the added healthy eating curriculum will be compared to children in classrooms that only receive the nutrition education program.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Healthy Bodies Project Comparison (HBP)No study treatment, for comparison
All classrooms will receive the Eating the Alphabet curriculum, which includes 27 lessons that introduce children to a new fruit or vegetable from A-Z each week. Parents in comparison and intervention classrooms will receive access to web-based parent resources related to the Eating the Alphabet curriculum (e.g., food of the week fact sheets with recipes and suggestions for use, and coloring pages).
- Healthy Bodies Project Plus (HBP+)Treatment being tested
Intervention classrooms will receive the Eating the Alphabet curriculum described above for comparison classrooms, in addition to (1) the Healthy Eating curriculum, (2) classroom materials and teacher training designed to improve the classroom food and mealtime environment in ways that increase food acceptance, and (3) parent/caregiver education on responsive food parenting.
Treatment: Healthy Eating Curriculum, Improving the Classroom Food and Mealtime Environment, Parent Education, and ECE Food Acceptance Training
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Increasing Food Literacy as a Means of Increasing Preschool Children's Food Acceptance and Reducing Obesity Risk
- Plain-language title
- Teaching Healthy Eating to Preschoolers to Support Food ChoicesGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT05977348, who can take part
- Record updated
- 17 March 2025