Eatable Alphabet as a Nutrition Education Tool

Child Obesity Clinical Trial

Official title:

Measuring the Effectiveness of Eatable Alphabet Cards as a Nutrition Education Tool in a Pediatric Weight Management Program

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Enrolling by invitation

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05166629
• Other study ID #: 21-1152
• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 1, 2023
• Est. completion date: March 30, 2026

Study information

• Verified date: September 2023
• Source: Northwell Health
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This pilot randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness of Eatable Alphabet cards, a child friendly nutrition education tool, on child weight and related behaviors in a clinical sample of 2 to 10-year-old children with overweight/obesity, referred to a pediatric weight management program.

Description:

The goal of this research study is to determine whether the use of Eatable Alphabet cards in addition to standard weight management in a primary care setting will increase vegetable consumption. Additional outcomes that will be examined include fruit consumption, child engagement in meal selection and preparation, and clinic follow-up. If the intervention shows a significant effect in the above outcome measures, Eatable Alphabet cards can be implemented as a standard component of obesity management in primary care settings. It is hypothesized that the intervention will increase vegetable consumption, increase child engagement in meal selection and preparation, and increase clinic follow-up.

The study design is randomized control trial, in which the control group includes parent-child dyads receiving care as usual in the weight management program, including nutrition education, and the intervention group includes parent-child dyads receiving care as usual in the weight management program plus Eatable Alphabet cards in addition to typical nutrition education. All study participants will be families receiving care at the POWER Kids Weight Management Program at 410 Lakeville Road, with the child between the ages of 2 and 10 who have overweight or obesity. The primary outcome is parent reported frequency of child vegetable consumption. Secondary outcomes include: parent reported frequency of child fruit consumption, parent reported child engagement in meal selection/preparation, follow-up weight management visit attendance, and child anthropometric outcomes.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Enrollment: 160
• Est. completion date: March 30, 2026
• Est. primary completion date: March 1, 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 2 Years to 10 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• New patient at Cohen Children's Medical Center POWER Kids weight management program (defined as not having been seen by the program within the past 2 years)

• Child between the ages of 2-10

• English-speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• No appropriate caregiver available for consent.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Child Nutrition Disorders
• Child Obesity
• Child Overnutrition
• Nutrition Disorders
• Overnutrition
• Pediatric Obesity

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Eatable Alphabet
Eatable Alphabet is a set of kitchen activity cards developed by ChopChop Family, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, with funding from the CDC (https://www.chopchopfamily.org/eatable-alphabet/). It includes a series of alphabet cards with family-friendly recipes.
• Usual Care
Please see above description of usual care.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Cohen Children's Medical Center	New Hyde Park	New York

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Northwell Health

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in parent reported child vegetable consumption (servings/day)	Parents will complete pre and post intervention/usual care survey measures of vegetable consumption.	1 month
Secondary	Change in parent reported child fruit consumption (servings/day)	Parents will complete pre and post intervention/usual care survey measures of fruit consumption.	1 month
Secondary	Parent reported child engagement in meal selection/preparation	Parents will complete pre and post intervention/usual care survey measures of child engagement in meal selection/preparation.	1 month
Secondary	Follow-up weight management visit attendance	We will determine whether the patient returned for scheduled follow-up visit via medical record review.	6 months
Secondary	Change in child body mass index (BMI) z-score	Weight and height measured by clinical staff at the baseline visit and all subsequent visits over the next six months will be used to calculate body mass index (BMI=kg/m^2). Software will use Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reference standards to convert BMI into a BMI z-score based on the child's age and sex. Change in BMI z-score will be defined as BMI z-score 6 months (+/- 3 months) after the intervention visit minus BMI z-score at the baseline intervention visit.	6 months
Secondary	Change in weight for age (WFA) z-score	Weight measured by clinical staff at the baseline visit and all subsequent visits over the next six months will be used to generate weight for age (WFA) z-scores using CDC reference standards. Change in WFA z-score will be defined as WFA z-score 6 months (+/- 3 months) after the intervention visit minus WFA z-score at the baseline intervention visit.	6 months
Secondary	Change in percent of the 95th percentile of BMI for age and sex	Weight and height measured by clinical staff at the baseline visit and all subsequent visits over the next six months will be used to calculate body mass index (BMI=kg/m^2). Software will use CDC reference standards to convert BMI into a percent of the 95th percentile for the child's age and sex. Change in percent of the 95th percentile will be defined as percent of the 95th percentile 6 months (+/- 3 months) after the intervention visit minus percent of the 95th percentile z-score at the baseline intervention visit.	6 months

External Links

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