Supper Heroes: Examining the Impact of an Online Eating Intervention for Families
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Supper Heroes online environmentally friendly eating intervention for families, Monthly emails about environmentally friendly habits.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Eating Behaviors. Basic parameters: No limits · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Canada
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Supper Heroes: Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Impact of an Online Environmentally Friendly Eating Intervention for Families
Overview
This study will examine the effectiveness of the online family-based program focused on sustainable eating compared to weekly emails about environmentally friendly behaviours.
Detailed description
The investigators will conduct a family-level RCT following CONSORT guidelines: families will be randomly allocated into control and intervention groups. The control group will receive an email once a week for 7 weeks with information about environmentally friendly habits.
The intervention group will participate in the 7-week online Supper Heroes program consisting of 7 online "missions" completed over 7 weeks. Each mission includes tasks for families to complete, including reading infographics, watching short videos, participating in family-based activities, and sharing their progress. Parents will receive 2 text messages each week with information about the program. Families will also receive a toolkit to support their participation which will contain cookbooks, a potato brush, grocery planning tools, and a note that orients them to what is included. It will take approximately 1-2 hours per mission to complete all activities.
* Infographics: Each mission will contain brief, 1-2-page infographics for families to read. Topics are related to the mission theme for that week. For example, families may learn about tips for grocery shopping and meal planning as well as information about plant-based proteins. * Videos: Similar to the infographics, short, 1-5-minute online videos will be related to the theme of the mission participants are completing. For example, families will watch a short, animated video about grocery shopping. * Family-based activities: During each mission, participants will be invited to participate in a family-based activity such as follow-along cooking videos, doing an audit of their fridge, and creating a grocery shopping list. * Sharing: Families will be asked to share their experiences for each mission on an online community share board by providing a photo and/or text.
Interventions
- Behavioral Supper Heroes online environmentally friendly eating intervention for families
Families randomized to the intervention group will complete a 7-week Supper Heroes program that includes activities focused on making more meals at home, reducing food waste, and eating more plant-based foods. - Behavioral Monthly emails about environmentally friendly habits
Families randomized to the control group will receive monthly emails for 6 months about environmentally friendly habits.
Primary outcome measures
- Decrease in avoidable food waste [Time frame: 15 months]
Secondary outcome measures (2)
- Increased intake of plant-based foods among parents and children. [Time frame: 15 months]
- Decreased intake of red and processed meats among parents and children. [Time frame: 15 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- have at least one child 9-12 years old
- live in Ontario, Canada
- have access to the internet
- can respond to English surveys
Exclusion criteria
- parent(s) with prior nutrition and food education (e.g., degree in nutrition, culinary arts training)
- families with food allergies that would prevent them from participating in the intervention (e.g., soy products, beans or lentils)
- families who are vegetarian or vegan
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Other
Study locations
Canada · 1 center
- University of Guelph — Guelph
Publications
- Eckert KF, Agostinelli J, Laila A, Alexander C, Parizeau K, von Massow M, Duncan AM, Hesketh KD, Ma DWL, Haines J. Feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of "Supper Heroes", a family-based sustainable diet intervention. Appetite. 2025 Feb 1;206:107849. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2025.107849. Epub 2025 Jan 7. PMID 39788349
- National Cancer Institute. (n.d.). Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ2). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved April 3, 2025, from https://epi.grants.cancer.gov/dhq2/
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06928636 · Supper Heroes: RCT