Sonia Olivares

Nutritional status, food consumption and physical activity among Chilean school children: a descriptive study

Objective: To assess the nutritional status, food consumption and physical activity (PA) habits of Chilean school children, as a baseline for developing an educational intervention.Design: Cross-sectional study.Subjects: A total of 1701 children from 3rd to 7th grade in nine schools located in three geographical regions.Methods: We determined body mass index, food consumption (quantified FFQ which we categorised into five groups), PA in terms of TV viewing and frequency of after school PA. The data were analysed according to age, nutritional status and gender. A logistic regression analysis was performed using obesity as outcome.Results: Obesity was higher among boys; younger children presented higher prevalence in both genders. Daily intake of dairy products varied between 240 and 308 g, fruits/vegetables, between 197 and 271 g, energy-dense foods between 343 and 460 g. In all, 22.3 and 47% of the children watched over 3 h of TV during the week and weekend, respectively. Older children watched significantly more TV during the week, while on weekends all children increased this time significantly. Boys were more active than girls after school. The logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between obesity and low intake of dairy products.Conclusions: Prevalence of obesity among Chilean children is high. Although TV time, intake of energy dense foods and fruits/vegetables appeared as risk factors for obesity, only dairy consumption was significantly associated with obesity.Sponsorship: FAO

PUBLICIDAD DE ALIMENTOS Y CONDUCTAS ALIMENTARIAS EN ESCOLARES DE 5º A 8º BÁSICO

Con el fin de obtener informacion para mejorar la educacion alimentaria y nutricional en el sistema escolar, se estudio las actitudes frente a la publicidad de alimentos y las conductas alimentarias de escolares de segundo ciclo de ensenanza basica, aplicando una encuesta previamente validada por el INTA a una muestra de 274 escolares asistentes a escuelas publicas de Copiapo (norte), Melipilla (centro) y Dalcahue (sur). Los datos se presentan en forma descriptiva para el total de la muestra y por comunas. Para determinar la asociacion entre las variables se aplico la prueba de Chi cuadrado. Los mensajes publicitarios preferidos por los escolares fueron los de productos dulces y salados como papas fritas, suflitos, chocolates, galletas y otros ricos en grasa, azucar y sal (38,5%), bebidas (28,4%), yogur (19,5%) y comida rapida (13,6%). El 34,3% del total de escolares «siempre» disponia de dinero para comprar alimentos y el 64,2% «algunas veces». Con su dinero, el 68,1% de los escolares compraba alguno de los productos citados, el 17,2% bebidas, el 6,3% yogur y el 3,7% comida rapida. Se concluye que las conductas alimentarias de los escolares, semejantes en las 3 comunas, corresponden principalmente a alimentos poco saludables y bebidas con azucar. Se reitera la necesidad de educar en nutricion a los escolares y a sus padres y profesores, a traves de acciones gubernamentales de educacion y promocion de la salud

Nutrition Education in Chilean Primary Schools

The purpose of this study was to incorporate nutrition education in Chilean primary schools. The baseline information included nutritional status, food consumption and physical activity of 1,701 children from 3rd to 7th grade in ten urban and rural schools. Main results showed a high prevalence of obesity (15.4%) and overweight (19.6%), low consumption of vegetables, fruits, and dairy products, high intake of snacks and a low level of physical activity, especially in girls. Because the Ministry of Education does not allow the incorporation of new programs into the curriculum, the educational strategy was based on the development of a text book, a teachers guide, five practical guides for students from third to eighth grade and a CD-Rom. These materials were validated by 36 teachers in six schools through an educational intervention. Teachers and students considered the educational materials useful, motivational and easy to understand. This program is being implemented in 57 schools.

Impact of a school-based intervention on nutritional education and physical activity in primary public schools in Chile (KIND) programme study protocol: cluster randomised controlled trial

BackgroundChile has suffered a fast increase in childhood obesity in the last 10 years. As a result, several school programmes have been implemented, however the effectiveness of these needs to be evaluated to identify and prioritize strategies to curve this trend.MethodsCluster randomized controlled trial. Twelve primary public schools chosen at random over three regions of the country will take part in this study. The sample size consisted of a total of 1,655 children. For each region one school will be selected for each of the three nutritional intervention modes and one school will be selected as the control group. The intervention modes consist of the following:Healthy Kiosk and nutritional education (KSEAN);Optimized physical activity (AFSO);Healthy Kiosk and nutritional education (KSEAN) + optimized physical activity (AFSO);Control group.The effectiveness of each intervention will be evaluated by determining the nutritional condition of each child by measuring percentage of body fat, BMI and the z-score of the BMI. This study will also identify the eating behaviours, nutritional knowledge and fitness of each child, along with the effective time of moderate activity during physical education classes.DiscussionA protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of a school based intervention to control and/or reduce the rates of childhood obesity for children between 6 and 10 years of age was developed. The protocol was developed in line with the Declaration of Helsinski, the Nüremberg Code and the University of Chile Guidelines for ethical committees, and was approved by the INTA, Universidad de Chile ethical committee on Wednesday 12 March 2014.There is consensus among researchers and health and education personnel that schools are a favourable environment for actions to prevent and/or control childhood obesity. However a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to date has led some to question the wisdom of allocating resources to programmes. This is the first study of this kind in Chile and could be an important first step to provide guidance to political authorities in relation to which food and nutrition strategies to prioritize to curve this alarming trend.Trial registrationISRCTN32136790, registered retrospectively on 05 September 2014.

Motivaciones y barreras de los niños chilenos: ¿amenazas u oportunidades para la implementación de las guías alimentarias 2013?

INTRODUCTION Implementation of the updated Food Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) for the Chilean population requires the design of innovative strategies and effective. OBJECTIVE To determine motivations and barriers for children and mothers of preschool-age children to follow new FBDG messages, aiming to identify challenges and opportunities for designing effective communication and implementation strategies. METHODS A qualitative study based on 12 focus groups of 9 to 13 age children and 6 focus groups of mothers of preschool-age children, living in the north, central and south regions of the country, to analyze their reaction to each one of the 2013 FBDG messages. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Answers of children and mothers did not show differences by gender (in the case of the children) or region of the country. Results show the most frequent and representative comments regarding each message. Challenges to reducing the consumption of foods high in energy, fat, sugar and salt include advertisements and plentiful supply and low prices for these types of foods, both in the school environment and on the street. Opportunities identified included the advertisement of fruits, vegetables and dairy products to promote their consumption, as well as the coming implementation of Law 20.606, which is expected to be an effective way to support this initiative. CONCLUSION The results of this study show that the design of strategies based on values, desires and needs of different groups will contribute to optimizing the implementation of the 2013 Chilean FBDG.