Impacto de una intervención en alimentación y nutrición en escolares

Abstract

Introduction: School interventions are one of the most important strategies to combat obesity in children. Objective: To determine changes in eating patterns and nutritional status after an intervention of two years long that promoted healthy eating and physical activity in school children. Subjects and Method: 2,527 students, between first and fourth grade, were intervened for two years in the districts of Santiago Centro, Estacion Central and Peñalolen regarding Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity. Each parent underwent a Food Frequency Survey and the students were anthropometrically assessed at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Results: 1,453 out of 2,527 completed the whole process. The prevalence of obesity decreased from 23.4 to 20.1%. Obese schoolchildren significantly increased fruit consumption (p < 0.05), fish (p < 0.01) and legumes (p<0.05) and reduced the consumption of soft drinks (p < 0.01) and cakes/candy/chocolates (p< 0.01). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that interventions in schools on healthy eating and physical activity can improve the nutritional status of obese and overweighed children and increase healthy food consumption.