"Food Dudes" Prompt Healthy Eating

After several successful years in the U.K., the Food Dudes program has come to the U.S. and brought with it improvement in elementary students’ eating habits.

The Food Dudes use healthy food to defeat the bad guys.

Comprised of a three-step system of using role models, repeated tastings and rewards to help elementary students appreciate the benefits of healthy eating, the Food Dudes program was brought to the U.S. and tested at the Edith Bowen Laboratory School at Utah State University. The program involves a series of videos featuring the fictional Food Dudes. Before the Dudes face off against their mortal enemy, they first consume fruits and vegetables to attain their super powers. They are then able to defeat their enemy. After viewing the show, students are offered small tastings of various fruits and vegetables. Social praise and rewards are later offered to students who consume the various offerings.

“At Edith Bowen, we saw about a 40 percent increase in fruit consumption and a 55 percent increase in vegetable consumption among the students in the school, many of whom weren’t eating these foods with any regularity before,” said Greg Madden, associate professor in USU’s department of psychology. “We saw remarkable success with the pilot implementation of this program, and we are excited to see the program in action on a larger scale in these six Cache Valley schools. Our goal is to raise those percentages even higher by making some very slight variations to the program in the six new schools we are reaching.”

The Food Dudes program was developed by psychologists at Bangor University in Wales. One of the variations in USU’s implementation is offering students social rewards, such as praise, encouragement and public acknowledgement as opposed to typical, tangible awards like stickers or pencils.

Last year, researchers in Utah State University’s Nutrition Department, Psychology Department and the USTAR Applied Nutrition Research Program were the first to adopt the Food Dudes program in the United States on the university’s campus. After seeing a clear increase in healthy eating habits among the students, the program will be instituted at six elementary schools in Utah’s Cache County School District.

“We are excited to have the Food Dudes program at our school and can’t wait to start seeing some results, especially as it pertains to the social rewards aspect,” said Kathy Toolson, principal at Sunrise Elementary in Smithfield, Utah. “My hope is that not only will these social rewards help our students want to make better choices when it comes to eating fruits and vegetables, but they will also boost their self esteem and help them cultivate a better sense of self and accomplishment.”

Article by Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor
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