An incentive-based health program using MyPlate: a pilot study analyzing college students’ dietary intake behavior

Abstract

Objective

Is dietary education, incentivized by financial rewards, effective in achieving improved dietary intake behavior of college students? Participants: Fifty-seven undergraduates (18–24 years old), non-nutrition major students. Methods: The intervention group participated in weekly nutrition education meetings which focused on MyPlate for four weeks. Both the control and the intervention groups completed two online surveys that assessed the students’ knowledge and dietary behavior at the beginning and at the end of the 4-week education program. The respondents’ diet quality was determined by their compliance with MyPlate and their Healthy Eating Index’s recommendations. Results: Students who received education showed the most improvement regarding their knowledge and dietary behavior. These respondents tripled their average per capita consumption of whole grains and increased their fruit and vegetable intakes. Conclusions: Educating college students to work toward improving their diets with the assistance of incentives may have positive effect on their health behaviors.

Keywords:

• Health education
• nutrition
• experimental design
• community health

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo.

Additional information

Funding

This research was sponsored by Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs and California Polytechnic State University- College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences.