Objective@#To assess the
food and
nutrition literacy level of
school-age
children and its related factors, and to provide targets for further
nutrition health education and
nutrition improvement action.@*
Methods@#A total of 4 359
school-age
children, from third to eighth grade in 2
middle schools and 3
primary schools of Baoding city of Hebei Province, were selected as subjects using convenient sampling
method. For all participants’
food and
nutrition literacy evaluation, social demographic characteristics and
family food environment were investigated.@*Results@#The average score of
food and
nutrition literacy of valid
respondents was (61.91±9.22), and the scores of functional, interactive and critical
literacy increased successively. The score of
food and
nutrition knowledge was higher than that of skill, and the score of "
food intake" skill was the lowest(60.45±11.00).
Children’s
food and
nutrition literacy increased with age and grade during
primary school period, but the
literacy of junior
school students was lower than that of high-level graders in
primary school(P<0.05).
Children who were
female, the
only children, non-resident in
school, urban registered permanent residence, in a more affluent
family, cared by their
parents/
grandparents with a
higher education level, and had
nutrition education experience in
school, had significantly higher
food and
nutrition literacy(P<0.05). But the interactive
literacy of
only children, non-resident in
school and urban registered
children was significantly lower(P<0.05). The
family food environment was significantly correlated with
children’s
food and
nutrition literacy. The total score of
food nutrition literacy was higher for the
children who often had
fruits at home, rarely ate out,
eating without screen, and communicated
food and
nutrition information with
families frequently(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#The
food and
nutrition literacy of
school-age
children is not high, which is related with individual and
family’s demographic characteristic,
nutrition education experience in
school and
family food environment.
Children in
rural areas and younger age, with a large number of
family children and poor
family economic status and
food environment, should be the main
target population of
nutrition education and
nutrition improvement.