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Exploring subgroup effects by socioeconomic position of three effective school-based dietary interventions: the European TEENAGE project

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study was to explore subgroup effects by high and low socioeconomic position (SEP) of three previously conducted, effective European interventions.

Methods

Reanalyses stratified by SEP were conducted by the research groups of each study. All studies were school-based: two multi-component interventions targeting intake of fat or fruit and vegetables (FV), and a free breakfast initiative.

Results

Computer-tailored advice affected fat intake among low, but not high SEP girls after 1 year. A multi-component intervention affected the total FV intake in both SEP groups, vegetable intake in low SEP and fruit intake in high SEP across three countries after 1 year, whereas free fruit affected total FV and fruit intake equally in both SEP groups in one country after 2 years. Providing a free healthy breakfast increased consumption of healthy food items only in the low SEP group.

Conclusions

Reanalysing intervention studies by SEP is a quick and easy way to explore patterns in effects by SEP across interventions. Providing healthy food might be a promising strategy for decreasing social inequalities.

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Acknowledgments

Project TEENAGE—the prevention of socioeconomic inequalities in health behaviour in adolescents in Europe—has received funding from the European Union in the framework of the Public Health Programme (Project-Number 2006323). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The contributions of the authors were as follows: N.L. drafted the final manuscript; L.H., S.J.tV. and L.Me. reanalysed study 1, 2 and 3, respectively; F.J.vL. initiated the project; K-I.K., L.Mo., I.dB. and F.F. contributed to the initiation of the project and were work package leaders. All authors commented on early drafts of the manuscript and have read and approved the final manuscript. The TEENAGE work package on dietary interventions would like to acknowledge the work of Researcher Marianne Wind and Research assistants Lena L. Nymoen and Benedicte K. Mælnes in the initial search for the intervention studies and writing on early drafts of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1046, Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Nanna Lien & Knut-Inge Klepp

  2. Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Leen Haerens & Ilse de Bourdeaudhuij

  3. EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Saskia J. te Velde

  4. Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Liesbeth Mercken

  5. DECIPHer, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Liesbeth Mercken & Laurence Moore

  6. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Avogadro University, Novara, Italy

    Fabrizio Faggiano

  7. Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Frank J. van Lenthe

Authors
  1. Nanna Lien
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  2. Leen Haerens
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  3. Saskia J. te Velde
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  4. Liesbeth Mercken
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  5. Knut-Inge Klepp
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  6. Laurence Moore
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  7. Ilse de Bourdeaudhuij
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  8. Fabrizio Faggiano
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  9. Frank J. van Lenthe
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Correspondence to Nanna Lien.

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Lien, N., Haerens, L., te Velde, S.J. et al. Exploring subgroup effects by socioeconomic position of three effective school-based dietary interventions: the European TEENAGE project. Int J Public Health 59, 493–502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-013-0524-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-013-0524-8

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