mHealth Improved Fruit and Vegetable Accessibility and Intake in Young Children

Abstract Objective To explore the potential of mHealth using smartphones to improve fruit and vegetable intake in children. Design A 10-week randomized control and intervention pilot study. Setting Story time sessions at local libraries. Participants A convenience sample of 30 parents and children (aged 3–8 years). Intervention Delivery of nutrition intervention through the mobile Jump2Health website, Facebook posts, and text messages. Main Outcome Measures Electronic food photos of children's meals and snacks, 10-question survey related to fruit and vegetable consumption, reflectance spectroscopy via Veggie Meter to measure skin carotenoid levels, body mass index percentiles, and a mobile learning survey. Analysis Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test. Results Veggie Meter values for children and parents showed significant week × treatment interactions in the intervention group compared with the control group for both children ( P P Conclusions and Implications This pilot study offers a potentially effective program including a mobile Web site, social media, and test message components to increase fruit and vegetable intake of young children.