Culinary Education Programs for Children in Low-Income Households: A Scoping Review

A virtual culinary medicine intervention for ethnically diverse individuals with type 2 diabetes: development of the Nourishing the Community through Culinary Medicine

Virtual culinary medicine education interventions have the potential to improve dietary behaviors, nutrition knowledge, cooking skills, and health outcomes for ethnically diverse individuals with type 2 diabetes. The purpose of this study is to describe the adaptation of the Nourishing the Community through Culinary Medicine (NCCM) program for virtual delivery, and the protocol for pilot testing this intervention. The intervention includes five 90-min virtual NCCM sessions streamed live from a Teaching Kitchen. Feasibility outcomes are recruitment, retention, acceptability, and satisfaction. Short-term effectiveness outcomes are measured through self-administered questionnaires, including perceived health, average daily servings of fruits and vegetables, frequency of healthy food consumption, shopping, cooking, and eating behaviors, cooking self-efficacy, diabetes self-management, perceived barriers to healthy eating, and nutrition knowledge. Demographics and biometric outcomes are sourced from the patient's electronic medical records including glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), Body Mass Index, and blood pressure. We will conduct a single-arm pilot study to test the feasibility and short-term effectiveness of NCCM program with individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Relative impacts of a virtual cooking and nutrition program for children and families

Among the many factors contributing to increased consumption of ultraprocessed foods, a societal decline in cooking skills is a barrier to achieving healthy dietary patterns among children and adolescents. The current study assessed the effectiveness of a healthy cooking program, its geographic reach, and whether program format (child only, in-person format vs. family-based, virtual format) influenced outcomes. This was a quasi-experimental comparison study using youths' (8-18 years old) pre-post surveys, paired t-tests, propensity score matching, and hot spot analysis. Children participated in one of two healthy cooking programs: Flint Kids Cook (FKC)] in-person or [Flint Families Cook (FFC) virtual. FKC was facilitated inside a farmers' market commercial kitchen, whereas FFC took place virtually, in families' homes. Youth were eligible to participate in FKC if they were age 8-18 years, spoke English, and had not participated in a prior session. Families were eligible to participate in FFC if they had a child(ren) age 8-18 years, spoke English, and had not participated in a prior session of FKC or FFC. A total of 246 children (152 FKC; 94 FFC) completed assessments. FFC participants reported improved cooking self-efficacy (p < 0.001), intake of vegetables (p = 0.04), health-related quality of life (HRQoL; p = 0.01), and physical functioning (p < 0.001). Geographic reach, cooking self-efficacy, attitude towards cooking, and HRQoL exit scores did not differ between virtual or in-person programs. However, virtual program participants reported higher intake of whole grains (p = 0.02) and total fruits (p = 0.02) than in-person participants. Differences in outcomes based on program format included notable dietary improvements among youth who participated in the family-based virtual program.

Involvement of children in hands-on meal preparation and the associated nutrition outcomes: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Emerging research has explored hands-on meal preparation as a strategy to improve children's nutrition-related outcomes. This scoping review was conducted to describe the extent of studies on children's involvement in hands-on meal preparation and the related psychosocial outcomes, actual nutrition behaviour/food consumption and weight status.

METHODS

Scoping review methodology was used to select relevant studies, as well as extract and collate the data. Four databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) were searched from the earliest available time up to December 2020. Observational studies, experimental studies and reviews that were conducted among children aged 5-12 years old and published from 2010 to 2020 were retrieved. Studies extracted involved children in hands-on healthy meal preparation activities and explored the associated nutrition outcomes.

RESULTS

In total, 28 studies (5 observational studies, 21 experimental studies, 2 reviews) were included in the final review. Studies conducted demonstrated improvement in children's psychosocial outcomes and actual nutrition behaviour/food consumption after participating in hands-on meal preparation activities, despite differences in methodology, programme content and settings (countries/cultural origins). Limited studies assessed children's nutrients intake and weight status.

CONCLUSIONS

The current review suggests that hands-on meal preparation comprises approach for instilling positive perceptions towards nutrition/healthy foods, potentially improving children's diet. Future studies should include the assessment of nutrient intake and weight status. The long-term sustainability of these nutrition outcomes should be explored.