Food Dudes: Future proofing school-based healthy eating behaviour change interventions for 3-11 year old children at school

Description of impact

The worldwide increase in child obesity and associated non-communicable diseases stems from children eating too few fruit and vegetables, too many high calories snacks, and children's increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The evidence-based Food Dudes scheme [REF14 ICS] produces large and lasting increases in children's fruit and vegetable consumption and reduces their intake of energy-dense foods. It has now been delivered to >1.6 million primary school children, a 3-fold increase from REF 2014, 6000 3-4 year olds attending nursery classes, and 13,780 special needs children. It has informed, and is recommended by, the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme and continues to strongly influence government policy in Ireland where Food Dudes has been delivered nationally since 2007.

Impact Summary for the General Public

The worldwide increase in child obesity and associated non-communicable diseases stems from children eating too few fruit and vegetables, too many high calories snacks, and children's increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The evidence-based Food Dudes scheme [REF14 ICS] produces large and lasting increases in children's fruit and vegetable consumption and reduces their intake of energy-dense foods. It has now been delivered to >1.6 million primary school children, a 3-fold increase from REF 2014, 6000 3-4 year olds attending nursery classes, and 13,780 special needs children. It has informed, and is recommended by, the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme and continues to strongly influence government policy in Ireland where Food Dudes has been delivered nationally since 2007.

Impact status	Ongoing
Impact date	1 Aug 2013 → 31 Jul 2020
Category of impact	Health/Quality of life, Societal
Impact level	Benefit