Anthropometric characteristics and food habits of school children: indicative factors for nutrition education

Abstract

Childhood obesity is increasingly prevalent in the population, and is mainly a result of poor eating habits. Schoolchildren aged between 5 and 10 years are attracted to more colorful, tastier, and cheaper foods. Eating habits are still being formed at this age, so it is very important to develop them in a healthy way. The assessment of nutritional status at this stage has the objective of identifying those students at nutritional risk. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritional status and food habits of schoolchildren enrolled in a municipal school, in order to develop intervention activities appropriate to the needs of the population. 169 students participated in this cross-sectional study, with evaluation of nutritional factors and measurement of weight, height, and waist circumference (WC). Dietary intake was assessed using a Previous Day Food and Physical Activity Questionnaire. Statistical analyses adopted a significance level of 95% (p<0.05) as the critical level. From the data obtained, the distribution according to grade of students studied was shown to be homogeneous, with 58.6% of the students being female. 49.7% of the students were eutrophic and 41.5% were overweight. There was a significant association between the WC classification and nutritional status. Fruits, rice and beans, and soft drinks were food preferences that were significantly associated with the nutritional status classification. Concerning the venue of meals, 48.5% reported consuming them at the family table. The results highlighted the need for further intervention, serving as a basis for the preparation of new actions and revealing their importance in the school and home environments. The findings provide support for this and other extension projects, stimulating research to include other methods of nutritional assessment, in order to obtain results that are more reliable and implement actions that are more effective.