ABSTRACT
RESUMEN El objetivo fue analizar la intervención de la política de comedores escolares y el rol en la nutrición saludable de niños y niñas de Córdoba, Argentina en los años 2013 y 2018. Estudio descriptivo y trasversal. La muestra incluyó diez escuelas en 2013 y diez diferentes en 2018. Se realizó un relevamiento de comedores escolares y recordatorios alimentarios 24 hs a 341 niñas y niños. Los aportes nutricionales de los comedores escolares descendieron entre ambos periodos, en especial, en las escuelas insertas en contexto de mayor vulnerabilidad. También se observó una reducción significativa de la ingesta media de calcio y energía total. En las niñas y los niños asistentes a los comedores escolares se encontraron indicadores de desnutrición crónica, exceso de peso e ingestas de calcio, vitamina A y C deficitarios. En la asociación entre la asistencia al comedor escolar y el indicador baja talla/riesgo de baja talla, el odds ratio no fue estadísticamente significativa. Resulta necesario impulsar una política que busque de manera urgente mejoras de los indicadores de nutrición infantil, considerando un enfoque de derechos.
ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyze school lunch programs and their role in the healthy nutrition of children in Córdoba, Argentina from 2013 to 2018. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted that included a sample of 10 schools in 2013 and 10 different schools in 2018. A survey of school lunch programs and 24-hour nutrition reminders was carried out with 341 children. The nutritional value of school lunch programs decreased over the study period, particularly among schools in contexts of greater social vulnerability. Significant reductions in average calcium and energy intake were also observed. Indicators of chronic malnutrition, overweight, and excess calcium and vitamin A and C intakes worsened among children attending school lunch programs. Regarding the association between school lunch program attendance and low height for age/risk of low height for age, the odds ratio was not statistically significant. We argue for the necessity of promoting policies that seek urgent improvements in child nutritional indicators from a rights-based perspective.
Subject(s)
Humans , Child , Lunch , Food Services , Argentina , Schools , Cross-Sectional Studies , Nutrition Policy , Diet, HealthyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Following the increase in the number of children with food allergies, support systems are now required for school lunches, but a large-scale factual investigation has not been carried out. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the features of elimination diet due to food allergy and the support system in kindergartens and schools. METHODS: A prefecture-based questionnaire survey regarding measures for food allergies in school lunches of all kindergartens, public elementary schools, and public junior high schools (631 facilities) was conducted in Oita Prefecture, Japan. RESULTS: The recovery rate of the questionnaire was 99.5%, which included 106,008 students in total. A total of 1,562 children (1.5%) required elimination diets. The rate of children on elimination diets in kindergartens and elementary/junior high schools that required medical certification by a physician was 1.2% (324 among 27,761 children), which was significantly lower than the 1.8% of children (1,227 among 68,576 students) on elimination diets at the request of guardians without the need for medical certification (p < 0.0001). A total of 43.9% of the kindergartens and schools said that they would contact guardians if symptoms were observed after accidental ingestion, while a low 8.1% stated that they provided support to children themselves, including the administration of adrenaline auto-injectors. CONCLUSION: Medical certification reduces the number of children requiring elimination diets, but it has not been adequately implemented. Furthermore, waiting to contact guardians after symptoms are observed may lead to the delayed treatment of anaphylaxis. Cooperation between physicians and teachers is desired to avoid the overdiagnosis and undertreatment of children with food allergies.
Subject(s)
Child , Humans , Anaphylaxis , Certification , Diet , Eating , Epinephrine , Food Hypersensitivity , Japan , Lunch , Medical OveruseABSTRACT
Objective: This is a retrospective cohort study to investigate children’s food habits, affecting changing their likes/dislikes, on the basis of questionnaires answered by the mothers of 222 children. Methods: The questionnaire data was analyzed on 4 years old children at the beginning of the first year of kindergarten and on the same children at the end of the second year, when they were 6 years old. The questionnaire included 18 questions regarding their children’s lifestyle, likes/dislikes, attitude toward foods and guardian’s food habits. The Kruskal Wallis test was performed to compare the ordered categorical outcomes among four groups of changes in likes/dislikes: “(+) to (−)” means that the children disliked some foods as 4 year olds, and that as 6 year olds they disliked no foods, “(+) to (+)”, “(−) to (+)”, and “(−) to (−)”. Results: In total, 71.0% results reported (+) to (+), 10.0% reported (+) to (−), 6.5% reported (−) to (+) and 12.5% reported (-) to (-). Among the four groups, “Respect for food” (p<0.001), “Enjoying school lunches” (p<0.01), and “Family’s deviated food habits” (p<0.01) significantly varied. Children in the “(+) to (−)” group showed significantly more favorite behaviors than in the “(+) to (+)”. Conclusion: Changes in children’s likes/dislikes during kindergarten 2 years’ course may be related to “Respect for food”, “Enjoying school lunch” and “Family’s deviated food habits”. Therefore, managing these habits may be important when trying to change children’s likes/dislikes.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of obesity on the satisfaction with school lunches and school lunch leftovers of elementary school children in the Kyeonggi area. The study was carried out on 235 children(male : 111, female :124) in December of 2000. The results are summarized as follows. A Rohrer index was used to define obesity. The proportions of severe underweight, underweight, normal, overweight, and obese were 0.9%, 16.6%, 57.9%,17.0%, and 7.7% respectively. For the data analysis, the subjects were divided into 3 groups : an underweight group(Rohrer index 109 including severe underweight), a normal group(Rohrer index 110-140), and an obese group(Rohrer index 141 including overweight). With regard to the satisfaction with school lunches, the proportions of children who were satisfied, neutral, and unsatisfied were 27.2%, 59.6% and 13.2% respectively. The proportion of the satisfaction with school lunches was significantly higher in the male group than in the female group(p<0.05), and the proportion of the dissatisfaction with school lunches was significantly increased with obesity index(p<0.05). The largest proportion of children who were satisfied with school lunches answered they felt hungry(56.3%) and the food tasted good(42.2%). Children sho were not satisfied with school lunches answered that the food was not tasty(93.5%), they did not have ant appetite(9.7%), and others. The children not finishing school lunches(leftovers) occasionally or always were 47.7% of the subjects. The behavior of leaving lunch foods was not significantly related to the gender or the frequency of eating snacks, wile it was positively related with dissatisfaction with school lunches(p<0.01), obesity index(p<0.05), and the decreased frequency of eating meals per day(p<0.01). The reasons of school lunch leftovers were food dislikes(67.9%), excess of quantity(39.3%), tastelessness(31.3%), poor appetite(13.4%), and other. The children eating meals twice, 3 times, and 4 times per day were 18.7%, 74.9%, and 6.4% of the subjects respectively. The proportions of the obese and the satisfaction with school lunches were not changed significantly according to the frequency of eating meals, while the proportion of children leaving school lunches was significantly higher in the group of eating meals twice per day than in the other groups(p<0.01). The frequency of eating snacks was not related to the obesity index, the proportion of school lunch leftovers, or the frequency of eating meals, while the proportion of satisfaction with school lunches was significantly higher in the group of eating snacks 1-2 times per day than in the other groups(p<0.01). In conclusion, it is necessary to have children enjoy school lunches with efforts to improve the food's taste in the school food services and to reexamine the serving sizes for the children, in addition to the nutrition education for the children to eat a variety of foods.