Acceptance Level of Free Milk program and the Factors Affecting on it in Girl High Schools in Yazd

Consumption of dairy products in teenagers is very important for achieving optimum growth. Accordingly، the related government offices have distributed free-milk in schools in recent years. This study was designed to determine the acceptance of this intervention among the girl high schools in Yazd.

In this cross-sectional study، 703 students were selected randomly from the two educational regions of Yazd city. Data were collected by demographic questionnaire and questionnaires about the number of weekly consumed milks، knowledge and attitude. Data were then analyzed by SPSS version 16.

The results showed that 37% of the students did not consume milk at all. There was no correlation between the knowledge and acceptance of milk although there was a correlation between the attitude and acceptance of milk among the students. Among those who had consumed milk، 63 % noted benefits of milk for their health as the reason for its consumption. Of the students who had not consumed milk، 64% did not drink it for its bad taste.

Considering the results، acceptance of distributed milk was not good and according to this study، the major reason of not using distributed milk was its undesirable flavor. Therefore enhancement of quality and taste of milk distributed by the government can help boosting the student''s interest to consume it and to obtain most advantage of the program.