CAN FOOD EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IMPROVE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT FOOD AND PROMOTE THE ACCEPTANCE OF MEALS PLANNED BY THE NATIONAL SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2017.28204Keywords:
School Feeding. Food and Nutritional Education. Health Education.Abstract
Introduction: The National School Feeding Program, one of the oldest among Brazilian public policies for food supplementation, has, among its goals, keeping children fed in school and promoting food and nutrition education. The students’ adhesion to school feeding, however, does not meet the goals of the Program. Objective: This study aimed to assess whether specific food education activities in public schools could improve food knowledge and promote the acceptance of meals planned by the National School Feeding Program. Methods: Interventional study in which three schools with classes of grades 3rd through 5th of elementary school were selected, due to their low performance in games, to have their knowledge about healthy eating and low acceptance of school feeding assessed through the leftovers/ingestion index and through the hedonic scale, totaling 243 students of ages 8 to 13. Data regarding anthropometric measurements, adherence to and acceptance of school feeding were obtained. Educational practices included cooking workshops and classroom activities. Results: Nutritional assessment showed obesity in 10% of the students, most of whom consumed school meals, even though they purchased unhealthy foods to eat during mealtime in school. The performance in the games, after the intervention, showed significant improvement through the results obtained with the leftovers/ingestion and the hedonic scale. Conclusion: Educational activities promoted an improvement in the students’ knowledge about healthy eating and their acceptance of school meals.
DOI: 10.12957/demetra.2017.28204
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