Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Previous studies have shown that students have low fruit and vegetable intakes, and that there are very few interventions targeting fruit and vegetable consumption in students. The aim of this study is to test an intervention in the campus environment aiming to increase students’ fruit and vegetable intakes.
Who can participate?
First and second year students at HAS University of Applied Science
What does the study involve?
Fruits and snack vegetables are provided in the afternoon in a mobile cart in the form of a miniature wooden house which is placed in the central hall of the university building. By means of questionnaires students self-reported intakes of fruit, snack vegetables, total vegetables, cooked vegetables, and side dish vegetables are assessed before and after the intervention.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Benefits of the intervention are a possible higher fruit and vegetable consumption and the health benefits of this higher consumption. The risk of the intervention are food allergies, but students can choose if they take the fruits and vegetables out of the cart. Participating in the questionnaire has a minimal burden.
Where is the study run from?
HAS University of Applied Science (Netherlands)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
February 2017 to May 2018
Who is funding the study?
Topsector Horticulture and Starting materials, with co-funding of the Triodos Foundation and Royal FloraHolland
Who is the main contact?
Ms Nicole van den Bogerd
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Ms Nicole van den Bogerd
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2162-8580
Contact details
De Boelelaan 1085
Amsterdam
1081 HV
Netherlands
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
Has to GO
Study information
Scientific title
A fruit and vegetable cart – effects of offering on-site free fruits and snack vegetables on Dutch students’ intakes.
Acronym
HAS to GO
Study hypothesis
Primary hypothesis: the food environment intervention will increase students’ fruit, snack vegetable, and total vegetable intakes, but not students cooked vegetable and side dish vegetable intakes. Secondary hypotheses: (1) students will evaluate the food environment intervention positively; (2) intervention effects might differ between subgroups.
Ethics approval
Scientific and Ethical Review Board of the Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 28/04/2017, ref: VCWE-2017-034R1
Study design
Single-arm food environment intervention study
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Non randomised study
Trial setting
Schools
Trial type
Prevention
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet
Condition
Fruit and vegetable intake
Intervention
Fruits and snack vegetables were provided in the afternoon in a mobile cart in the form of a miniature wooden house which was placed in the central hall of the university building. This intervention has been tested three times, each time for three weeks, with a pretest-post-test design without a control group. By means of questionnaires students self-reported intakes of fruit, snack vegetables, total vegetables, cooked vegetables, and side dish vegetables were assessed.
Intervention type
Behavioural
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Self-reported fruit and snack vegetable intake, assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire at the pretest and post-test, and the follow-up in experiment 2 (6 weeks after the intervention)
Secondary outcome measures
1. Self-reported total vegetable intake, cooked vegetable intake, side dish vegetable intake, assessed with questionnaires at the pretest and post-test, and the follow-up in experiment 2
2. Perceived taste of the fruits and vegetables that were offered and effectiveness of the intervention evaluated with new developed questionnaires during the post-test of experiment 2
Overall trial start date
08/02/2017
Overall trial end date
01/05/2018
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
First and second year students at HAS University of Applied Science
Participant type
Other
Age group
Adult
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
The majority of enrolled first year and second year students +- 1000
Total final enrolment
453
Participant exclusion criteria
1. If students did not provide a student number on the questionnaire: this was needed to match data of pretest and the post-test
2. If a student indicated at any point that they did not want to participate
Recruitment start date
13/03/2017
Recruitment end date
26/02/2018
Locations
Countries of recruitment
Netherlands
Trial participating centre
HAS University of Applied Science
Onderwijsboulevard 221
’s-Hertogenbosch
5223 DE
Netherlands
Sponsor information
Organisation
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Sponsor details
De Boelelaan 1085
Amsterdam
1081 HV
Netherlands
Sponsor type
University/education
Website
Funders
Funder type
Other
Funder name
Topsector Horticulture and Starting materials (KV-1604-050), with co-funding of the Triodos Foundation and Royal FloraHolland
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
All three experiments will be described in one manuscript. Data will be analysed separately and pooled.
IPD sharing statement
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are/will be available upon request from Nicole van den Bogerd. Questionnaire and observational data (amount of fruits and vegetables provided and used) is available at any reasonable request from researchers affiliated with a university or research institute with an ORCID. All participants in the questionnaires provided informed consent at the pretest, and data is only available without identifying information of the participants. Reasonable requests include additional data analysis of, for example, fruits and vegetable intakes, adherence to fruit and vegetable guidelines or meta-analysis. Data will available as soon as the researchers involved in the project approve the request. Data is available in a .sav or .xlsx format, and only in Dutch.
Intention to publish date
01/12/2018
Participant level data
Available on request
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
2020 results in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31937380/ (added 26/10/2020)