Factors associated with food consumption in schools and overweight/obesity in 7 to 10-year-old schoolchildren in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

The scope of this article is to investigate the association between the source of snacks consumed in schools, their nutritional value and overweight/obesity. It involved a cross-sectional study with 3,930 schoolchildren aged between 7 and10 in the state of Santa Catarina. Food consumption in the school was assessed with an illustrated 24-hour dietary recall and the source of snacks was investigated by structured interview. Soft drinks and artificial fruit juices, fried and processed snacks, ready-to-eat or sweetened snacks, delicacies and stuffed biscuits were classified as “low nutritional value foods,” while fruit, natural fruit juices, vegetables, and vegetable soup were the “high nutritional value foods.” Univariate and multiple logistic regression was conducted. Overweight/obesity was significantly associated with higher food consumption from the school canteen (OR = 1.34; CI = 1.07-1.68) in private schools. Bringing food from home was significantly associated with increased consumption of low nutritional foods, both in public (OR = 1.56; CI = 1.32-1.83) and private (OR = 2.64; CI = 1.76-3.97) schools. The results highlight the need for tightening of norms to reduce the availability of low nutritional value food in canteens, and actions to promote nutritional education involving the school community.