Enhancing Knowledge Translation in Nutrition Through a Healthy Eating Blog

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of an evidence-based healthy eating blog on dietary behaviors of mothers

Detailed Description
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Mothers randomised to the experimental group were exposed to one weekly blog post for 6 months. Blog posts focus on the improvement of dairy products as well as vegetables and fruits consumption targeting five food skills categories: (1) knowledge about food, nutrition and cooking; (2) planning of healthy meals, and for including children to develop their food skills; (3) conceptualizing outcomes; (4) mechanical techniques for food preparation; (5) perception of food characteristics. Each post included a step-by-step recipe developed by the research team and featuring dairy products, vegetables and fruits. Recipes were described textually and also using pictures. Twenty-six posts were created over the six-month intervention. Participants randomised to the control group were not exposed to the healthy eating blog. The primary outcome is the daily intakes of dairy products, vegetables and fruits. The secondary outcomes are mothers' food skills and body weight.

Official Title
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Enhancing Knowledge Translation in Nutrition Through a Healthy Eating Blog: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Conditions
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Healthy

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Healthy eating blog


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Have Internet access, have at least one child aged two to twelve years, are mostly in charge of the planning and preparation of family meals, consume less than two servings a day of dairy products and/or less than seven servings a day of vegetables and fruits. Exclusion Criteria: Take medications that could affect food intake, have eating disorders, are dieting, are currently pregnant or lactating.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Healthy eating blog (HEB)<br>For a 6-month period, mothers randomised to the HEB group will receive a weekly blog post discussing various positive aspects of healthy eating and presenting recipes and strategies to increase dairy product intakes and vegetable and fruit intakes. The posts will be developed with an emphasis of food skills acquisition. | Behavioral: Healthy eating blog<br>* For a 6-month period, mothers randomised to the HEB group will receive a weekly blog post discussing various positive aspects of healthy eating and presenting recipes and strategies to increase dairy product intakes and vegetable and fruit intakes. The posts will be developed with an emphasis of food skills acquisition.<br>|
| No Intervention: Control<br>Mothers randomised to the control group will not have access to the healthy eating blog. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Daily intakes of dairy products, vegetables and fruits measured by a validated web-based food frequency questionnaire | Assessed at T=0 month, T=3 months and T=6 months. | 6 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Food skills measured by a web-based questionnaire | Food skills measured: planning of healthy meal, knowledge about food, nutrition and cooking, mechanical technics for food preparation, etc. Assessed at T=0 month, T=3 months and T=6 months. | 6 months | 
| Body weight | Assessed at T=0 month, T=3 months and T=6 months. | 6 months |