ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The establishment of healthy eating habits in children at school and in family life is very important for preventing obesity in children. AIMS: To know the habits of late-breakfast in a scholar population, the prevalence of overweight and obesity, and establish healthy dietary habits through the late-breakfast. METHODS: A prospective interventional study was performed in a school group. Children from 10 to 13 years-old were included. The study had three phases: pre-intervention (anthropometric assessment and questionnaire of late-breakfast frequency), intervention (parents and teachers received information about "the importance of proper nutrition in school" focused on the transcendence of a healthy and balanced diet that includes a suitable late-breakfast every day at school, and the students received the late-breakfast during two weeks that included milk, fruit and a traditional sandwich), and post-intervention (questionnaire of late-breakfast frequency). RESULTS: Frequency of overweight was 10.6% and obesity 2.6%. After the intervention the proportion of children who had late-breakfast increased by 9.2%, and the kind of food which they ate changed. CONCLUSION: Dietary habits can be modified in a scholar population with an easy nutritional intervention.
