This study evaluated a simple environmental intervention called ‘Water Schools’ in Lower Austria providing free refillable water bottles and educational material.

Non-randomised controlled cluster trial with three measurements: at baseline (T0), after the intervention at 9 months (T1) and after 1-year follow-up (T2).

Half-day elementary schools in Lower Austria (Austria).

Third-grade pupils from twenty-two schools in the intervention group (IG) and thirty-two schools in the control group (CG) participated in the study. Data were analysed for 569 to 598 pupils in the IG and for 545 to 613 in the CG, depending on the time of measurement.

The consumption of tap water increased in the IG from baseline to T1 and then decreased again at T2, but this was similar in the CG (no statistically significant difference in the time trend between the IG and CG). Similar results were seen for tap water consumption in the mornings. The proportion of children who only drank tap water on school mornings increased significantly from baseline to T1 in the IG compared to the CG (P = 0·020). No difference in the changes over time occurred between the groups for the proportion of pupils drinking approximately one bottle of tap water during school mornings.

Not only the children in the IG but also those in the CG drank more tap water after 1 school year than at the beginning. The measurement of drinking habits in the CG may have been intervention enough to bring about changes or to initiate projects.

The present study was undertaken to learn more about parents’ (i) knowledge regarding healthy foods, factors associated with food purchasing and preparation, and current nutrition education resources, (ii) barriers to and promoters for establishing healthy eating habits for children and families, and (iii) interest in participating in nutrition interventions.

Focus group interviews were conducted with parents of low-income children from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

LAUSD Title 1 elementary schools where 50 % or more of students are eligible for free/reduced-price meals.

Sixty-four parents (93 % female; 84 % Hispanic/Latino) of elementary-school students.

The most common barriers to eating healthy foods were cost, difficulty in getting children to eat healthier foods and easy access to fast food. Parents had a basic knowledge about what foods are healthy and received most of their nutrition education through the media. Parents expressed a desire for nutrition classes and almost all of them said they would attend a nutrition programme at their child's school. Topic areas of interest included what to purchase, how to cook healthier foods, how to encourage their children to eat healthier and how to read food labels. Parents also requested classes that engage the whole family, especially fathers.

Parents in our study were interested in participating in nutrition education programmes. The information from these focus groups was used to design a parent nutrition education programme especially designed to respond to the needs of the LAUSD parents, the majority of whom are low-income and Hispanic/Latino.