2022 Volume 80 Issue 4 Pages 256-264
Objective: This study aimed to clarify the effects of a nutrition education program on vegetable intake of workers, incorporating self-monitoring using a noninvasive skin carotenoid sensor in addition to a seminar to motivate vegetable intake and environmental support through provision of vegetable beverages.
Methods: A randomized parallel-group study was conducted with 145 healthy workers (intervention group: 74; comparison group: 71; average age: 42) in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. A seminar by a registered dietitian to encourage vegetable intake and four weeks of environmental support of vegetable beverage distribution were provided to both groups. In addition, participants in the intervention group measured their vegetable intake by a noninvasive skin carotenoid sensor for 10 weeks. The primary outcome for program evaluation was the amount of vegetable intake, whereas the secondary outcome was its stage of change using the transtheoretical model (TTM).
Results: The intervention group showed a significant increase in vegetable intake from pre-intervention at both week 4 and week 10. The TTM stage score showed a significant progress at each period in the intervention group, but there were no differences in changed scores between the two groups.
Conclusion: The results suggested that the progress of TTM scores and the increase of vegetable intake was maintained even without the environmental support, due to self-monitoring with a noninvasive skin carotenoid sensor.
