Honors Theses
Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Nutrition and Hospitality Management
First Advisor
Kathy Knight
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Weight gain is common for undergraduate college students because of factors such as body maturation, increased consumption of fast food, and less physical activity. Weight gain may continue after college if diet and exercise habits do not improve, so learning healthy habits during college can contribute to a healthy adulthood. Recent research has reported that weight gain is inversely related to fruit and vegetable consumption. Because a large portion of college students' diets come from on-campus dining options, fruit and vegetable intake may be lacking because many of these venues may not serve these items or serve them in a way that is not appealing to students. Greek communities on college campuses usually encompass a significant portion of the student population, so research is needed on how to influence Greek students to make healthy dining choices. The purpose of this project was to determine if a three week point-of-purchase intervention targeting vegetables would have an effect on the amount of vegetables selected from one sorority's salad bar. Weights of vegetables served and left over were measured during the first week of the study. The point-of-purchase materials were placed at the beginning of the foodservice line for a two week period and amounts of vegetable served and left over were weighed during that two weeks. Data was analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to look for differences in weekly means of total vegetable consumption, followed by Student-Newman-Kewles Test (SNK) to separate the means (determine which means were significantly different) when differences were found. Student's t-tests were conducted on the weekly means for each vegetable to determine differences over time. Only tomato selection significantly increased from week 1 to week 2. However, significant differences in the means were seen between weeks 2 and 3 for broccoli, edamame, and tomatoes and between weeks 1 and 3 for cucumber, edamame, and tomatoes. Point-of-purchase marketing did increase the selection of vegetables. With the increasing obesity rates of college students (including those who are Greek) it is important that this area of continues to be explored.
Recommended Citation
Wittenberg, Shelton, "Effects of Point of Purchase Marketing on Selection of Vegetables in a University Greek House Foodservice" (2018). Honors Theses. 858.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/858
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