Impact of an Organizational Intervention Designed to Improve Snack and Beverage Quality in YMCA After-School Programs

Abstract

A learning collaborative can disseminate healthy eating standards among participating organizations and facilitate improvements in the quality of after-school snacks and beverages.

Intervention leads to improvements in the nutrient profile of snacks served in afterschool programs: a group randomized controlled trial

“…At the start of snack, the trained observer recorded the brand name(s), size, and packaging, where appropriate, of the foods and beverages served as snack for that day. Foods and beverage items served as snacks were classified according to existing categories for snacks and beverages [13,31], sugar-sweetened beverages (e.g., soda, powered drink mixed, sport drinks), dairy food unsweetened (e.g., string cheese), dairy food sweetened (e.g., Trix® yogurt), milk unsweetened (nonfat, 1 %, 2 %, and whole), milk sweetened (e.g., chocolate, strawberry), 100 % fruit juice, salty flavored snacks (e.g., Doritos®, Chex Mix®), salty unflavored snacks (e.g., pretzels, plain corn tortilla chips), desserts (e.g., cookies, Pop-Tarts®), candy (e.g., chocolate, frozen treats), nonfruit fruit (e.g., Fruit Roll-Ups®; fruit leather), prepackaged fruit (e.g., applesauce, fruit in syrup), cereal sugar-sweetened (e.g., Fruit Loops®); cereal unsweetened (e.g., Cheerios®), and fruits and vegetables (e.g., fresh, frozen, dried) recorded separately. Water was recorded if programs provided water in cups or bottles during snack time.…”

“…The macronutrient and micronutrient composition for each food and beverage were estimated based on the serving size observed during the program. Where serving sizes were not available, such as handfuls of pretzels served on a paper towel, a standard snack serving size was used that was based on snack serving sizes observed in previous ASP studies [7,9,20,33,34]. All macronutrients and micronutrients were standardized to represent the amount per 100 kcal [35,36].…”

“…Intervention studies have shown that ASPs can effectively work toward achieving the HE Standards and that they can do this without increasing the costs associated with purchasing more healthful snacks [6][7][8][9][10]. Moreover, direct observation has shown that, when children are served more healthful snacks like fruits and vegetables, they consume them [6,10].…”

Nutritional policies and standards for snacks served in after-school programmes: a review

“…chips, pretzels, snack mixes) (10) . Conversely, fruits and vegetables are served infrequently, with fruits offered as a snack option less than 1 serving/d (10)(11)(12) and vegetables almost entirely absent from snack menus (10,11) . To address these unhealthy trends, state-and nationallevel organizations have developed policies and/or standards designed to improve the nutritional quality of the snacks served in ASP.…”

Healthy Afterschool Activity and Nutrition Documentation Instrument

“…[18][19][20] Likewise, the nutritional value of snacks served at afterschool programs falls short of existing standards, 4 with the majority of the afterschool programs serving low-nutrient density items (e.g., chips, cookies, and sugarsweetened beverages). 21 If afterschool programs are to play a major role in promoting healthy lifestyles, as policies and standards 4,5 would indicate, the ability to characterize the "quality" of the physical activity and nutrition environment of afterschool programs is essential. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the Healthy Afterschool Activity and Nutrition Documentation (HAAND) instrument designed specifically to measure the obesogenic environment of afterschool programs.…”