Enhancing Dairy Intake Among Adolescents at an Alternative High School

Thesis (M.Nurs.), College of Nursing, Washington State UniversityDairy intake among adolescents is decreasing. Currently only 12% of U.S. females 12 to 19 years of age and 32% of males meet dietary guidelines for calcium intake. The purpose of this study was to evaluate teaching methods and dairy product choices of teens, and to enhance the dairy intake among adolescents at an alternative high school. Dairy product education was provided for approximately 90 alternative high school students during their scheduled health and nutrition class for 5 weeks, in the fall and spring terms. Students ranged from 14 to 18 years of age. Students were asked to taste and rate different dairy food products. Descriptive statistics were used to measure foods tasted using a ratings scale. Adolescents in the study preferred in-class, self-prepared ice cream over a large variety of other dairy products provided during classes. These alternative school adolescents present a challenging dynamic because of poor diet practices, frequent school absences, financial considerations of food choices and difficulty reaching and educating parents. Most adolescents stated that they would choose dairy products over soft drinks if priced the same in a vending machine. Adolescents should be exposed to a variety of calcium rich foods to help them identify tasteful options and should be taught strategies for consuming calcium rich foods in discussion-based participatory learning environments