Effect of the Croq’Santé nutrition education program on food literacy: study in 31 schools in France

Background

Early prevention of overweight and obesity in childhood is crucial to reduce long-term health risks and promote lifelong healthy behaviors. Created by the JDB Foundation for cancer prevention, Croq’Santé is a nutrition education program for children aged 8 to 11, in which teachers guide their class in adapting a recipe over 10 sessions. The program includes family challenges, visits to stakeholders in the food chain, and a cooking and tasting day. The aim of this study was to determine whether the Croq’Santé program significantly improves the level of food literacy of children who have participated in the program, compared with children who have followed the standard school program.

Methods

A controlled before-and-after quasi-experimental study was conducted in a socially diverse sample of 31 schools in Essonne, France, during the 2022/2023 school year. We included children from 63 classes, 42 in the intervention group and 21 in the control group. Data were collected by questionnaire before the start of the program (December-February) and at the end of the program (April-June). The impact of the program on the level of food literacy (score out of 25, the higher the score the better) was studied using multivariate mixed models.

Results

The study involved 683 children in the intervention group and 311 in the control group. The food literacy score was 17±3 at baseline and did not differ between the intervention and control groups (p = 0.279). An improvement of 1.6 points was observed in the intervention group, vs 0.3 points in the control group (p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses confirmed the impact of the program in advantaged and disadvantaged areas and showed an improvement in various attributes of food literacy (knowledge, skills, motivation, behaviour).

Conclusions

The Croq’Santé program has proven its effectiveness in raising the level of food literacy of schoolchildren, making it an interesting tool for preventing overweight and obesity in children.

Key messages

• Croq’Santé is a nutrition education program in which a teacher accompanies his or her class in adapting a recipe over 10 sessions, using an experiential and participatory approach.

• Compared with standard education, the Croq’Santé program significantly improves children’s food literacy, which include knowledge, skills, motivation, and behaviours.