Perfil nutricional, hábitos alimentares e adesão à alimentação escolar de alunos da rede municipal da região central de Alvorada/RS

Abstract

Objectives: To define the nutritional profile, adherence to school feeding and eating habits of students between 7 and 10 years of municipal schools in Alvorada / RS Methods: Cross-sectional study in public schools from central Alvorada-RS in 2010. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain information about demography, adherence to school feeding and eating habits. Weight and height were measured to calculate body mass index and subsequent classification of nutritional status, as assessed using the NCHS reference (2000). Results: A total of 421 students were evaluated, most of them between 7 and 8 years old. Overweight was observed in about 30% of the students and 14% of them were obese. Most children and adolescents had daily consumption of meat, dairy, rice and beans, but less than 40% ate fruits and vegetables daily. Regarding the school feeding adherence, about half of students had at least one meal at the school and those who did, half had these meals five times a week. Conclusions: Intervention strategies in changing of healthy habits should be adopted to reduce the high prevalence of overweight, obesity and improve the quality of school feeding