Undergrad presents nutrition research in national conference
While working with researchers at Utah State University, senior nutrition science major Erika Hopkins got a chance to do some research of her own. Through an Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunity (URCO) grant, Hopkins examined how accurately fourth and fifth-grade students could report levels of fruits and vegetables they ate.
Hopkins was working with Food Dudes, a pilot program at Edith Bowen Elementary designed to get elementary students to eat more fruits and vegetables. Part of her job was to take photographs of the students’ lunch trays before and after they had finished eating to find out what foods they were eating and how much. Hopkins, with the encouragement of her professor, applied for an URCO grant to find out whether or not the researchers could trust students to keep accurate logs of the fruits and vegetables they ate themselves.
Hopkins, who is one of USU’s students who went national with her project, presented her findings earlier this month at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Ithaca, N.Y., and said she valued her opportunity to perform research and work with the URCO program.
She found the answer to her selected research topic was that the researchers could use the logs students kept themselves to find out how much impact the Food Dudes program had. Students tended to overestimate the amount of fruits and vegetables they ate in a similar way each time, Hopkins said.
“I think children like to please the authority in their lives,” Hopkins said. “The teachers and the lunch ladies and these cute college girls are in the lunchroom promoting eating fruits and vegetables, so of course they’re going to want to please.”
Hopkins’ study results mean the scientists and education professionals working to establish the Food Dudes program in Cache Valley can determine what effects their efforts will have without spending as much of their funding to hire assistants to take photographs of lunch trays.
Heidi Wengreen is an assistant professor in the nutrition, dietetics and food sciences department and a co-principal investigator of the Food Dudes study at Edith Bowen Elementary. Wengreen suggested that Hopkins apply for URCO funding and helped Hopkins with the application process. Hopkins is the fourth student she has helped with undergraduate research through the URCO program.
“I have a good opportunity to work with undergraduate researchers, so I usually just try to identify somebody who I think might be interested. A lot of times I have to introduce them to the opportunity – they haven’t heard about (URCO grants) before,” Wengreen said.
That may seem surprising, since USU’s undergraduate research program started in 1975. Two decades after its creation, funds available through URCO totaled about $5,000. Only a few years later, though, the program had undergone a major overhaul and in 2000 the budget had doubled.
“We are funding now over the past few years 50 to 60 projects in a range of $22,000-24,000. Over the last decade, we’ve really ramped up support for student research,” said Joyce Kinkead, USU associate vice president for research.
The Food Dudes program Hopkins’ research helped was originally developed in Ireland, where it has been implemented successfully in elementary schools nationwide. Combining nutrition and psychology, the program is designed to change children’s eating behavior and attitudes towards fruits and vegetables. The program was brought to Edith Bowen Elementary as an experiment by Wengreen and Greg Madden, associate professor in the psychology department.
Sheryl Aguilar, senior dietitian at Applied Nutrition Research (formerly the Center for Advanced Nutrition), said fruit and vegetable intake approximately doubled during the Edith Bowen Elementary pilot study.
Wengreen said while the Food Dudes program has proven to be effective through the elementary school year in the United Kingdom, the USU research team is applying for funding to follow the change in students’ attitudes and eating habits for up to three years so they can see how the program’s effects carry over into middle school.
Hopkins said she believes the Food Dudes program can be an effective way to address important health problems.
“Right now, the country is facing rises in obesity and diabetes,” Hopkins said. “The onset is getting earlier and earlier in childhood, so by targeting the young people in this country, I think that’s the best way we can prevent or maybe curb this rise that we’re seeing, this epidemic.”
– steve.kent@aggiemail.usu.edu