Published: December 2022

ID #: 77234

Publisher: Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources. Brigham and Women's Hospital.

See more related research

Share


This research brief gives an overview of the Water is K’é intervention, conducted among Navajo Nation families. The intervention was delivered by early care and education teachers to households with children ages 2-5, and covered the cultural importance of water, health benefits of water, and alternatives to sugary drinks. At baseline, more than 70% of children already drank water several times daily, yet they also consumed more sugary drinks, particularly sweetened juice and flavored milk, than experts recommend. After the intervention, children consumed 21% fewer sugary drinks, providing an average decrease of 26 calories a day. Children consumed 16% more water and drank more unflavored milk and less flavored milk. This small pilot suggests promising approaches for increasing the healthfulness of Navajo children’s beverage intake. Improvement in caregiver knowledge of traditional Diné reverence for water may have influenced the change in beverages offered to children.

Related Research

August 2023

Teacher and Caregiver Perspectives on Water Is K’é: An Early Child Education Program to Promote Healthy Beverages among Navajo Children

The Water is K’é program was developed to increase water consumption and decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for young children and caregivers. The pilot program was successfully delivered by three Family and Child Education (FACE) programs on the Navajo Nation using a culturally centered curriculum between 2020 to 2022. The purpose of this research was More

August 2023

Teacher and Caregiver Perspectives on Water Is K’é: An Early Child Education Program to Promote Healthy Beverages among Navajo Children

The Water is K’é program was developed to increase water consumption and decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for young children and caregivers. The pilot program was successfully delivered by three Family and Child Education (FACE) programs on the Navajo Nation using a culturally centered curriculum between 2020 to 2022. The purpose of this research was More

February 2020

Expanding and evaluating a community-based intervention to increase healthy beverage consumption by Navajo preschool children

Diet-related disparities among indigenous youth are driven, in part, by excess sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and limited access to drinking water. Water is K’é targets environmental change at early childhood education (ECE) sites and community-wide systems change to promote a Diné culture of health. ECE sites will select and implement site-based and community-level changes to address More