Nutritional status of schoolchildren and mothers' knowledge of healthy lunch boxes, Lima-Perú; [Estado nutricional de los escolares y conocimientos sobre lonchera saludable de las madres, Lima-Perú]

Abstract

Introduction: During the school stage, the family plays an important role in the child's feeding style; however, the decisions made by parents about feeding practices are influenced by social, cultural and/or economic factors. Objective: To identify the relationship between the nutritional status of schoolchildren and knowledge about lunch boxes among mothers in an educational institution. Material and methods: The research had a quantitative approach, non-experimental, cross-sectional and correlational design. It had a non-probabilistic sample by convenience formed by 133 schoolchildren of both sexes from 6 to 12 years of age and their respective mothers also participated and average age of 23 years (SD=2.3). A nutritional evaluation record card and the knowledge questionnaire were used, which was validated through expert judgment, with excellent reliability and validity. For the statistical analysis, SPSS was used, the Chi-square test was used to relate the nutritional status variables of the schoolchildren and the mothers' knowledge of healthy lunch boxes. Results: The nutritional status of the schoolchildren according to BMI/age was 73.6% normal and 2.3% thin; 91% were normal height, 7.5% short height and 1.5% tall height. The mothers' level of knowledge of healthy lunchboxes was low at 2.3%, regular at 50.4% and high at 47.4%. There is a relationship between BMI/age of the schoolchild and knowledge about lunch boxes in mothers (p= 0.024), but there is no relationship between height/age of the schoolchild (p= 0.527). Conclusions: Obesity and overweight are associated with knowledge about a healthy lunch box; a high-calorie lunch box increases the student's energy needs; however, there was no relationship in height due to factors such as cost and cultural and social preferences. © 2024 Sociedad espanola de dietetica. All rights reserved.