Adherence to the mediterranean diet in primary education pupils involved in physical activity: A systematic review

Abstract

Today, there is a clear trend of abandonment of the Mediterranean lifestyle, especially in children and adolescents. Mediterranean diet is postulated as one of the healthiest forms of feeding that exist. Knowing the adherence to the Mediterranean diet in schoolchildren results interesting, since actions could be taken to promote a healthy diet, especially from the subject of Physical Education. Systematic review of cross-sectional studies that determined adherence to the Mediterranean diet in schoolchildren, by searching five different databases between 2014 and 2019. For the selection of the articles, it was necessary to consider the type of study, the age range analysed, as well as the location where the study was carried out. 13 studies were included in the review, where 69.2% of them show that more than half of the sample of children included in the studies need to improve their eating patterns (50%). In recent years there seem to have been slight improvements in relation to adherence to the Mediterranean pattern by schoolchildren. However, a greater number of intervention strategies are required to promote correct eating habits.