Breakfast quality, physical activity and nutritional status in schoolchildren from riosenses, Ecuador; [Calidad del desayuno, actividad física y estado nutricional en escolares riosenses, Ecuador]

Abstract

Introduction: School breakfast provides energy to start their academic work, its intake is essential to ensure optimal nutritional status and physical activity contributes to physical well-being. Objectives: To determine the relationship between breakfast quality, physical activity and nutritional status. Methods: Cross-sectional study, based on a two-stage sample stratified by clusters. The sample consisted of 699 students (341 females and 358 males) of the Miguel de Cervantes Basic Education School from November 2022 to January 2023. SPSS software version 27 was used for statistical analysis. The Chi-square test was used. Results: The nutritional status of the children was 58.23% normal, 18.3% overweight, 11.16% obese, 9.59% slightly undernourished and 3% severely undernourished. Incomplete breakfast was consumed by 48.93%, poor quality breakfast by 39.91%, complete breakfast by 5.87% and no breakfast by 5.29%. A relationship between breakfast quality and physical activity was significant (p<0.000), there is also a relationship between breakfast quality with nutritional status of weight/height (p<0.000) and height/age (p<0.000). Conclusions: There is a relationship between breakfast quality with physical activity and nutritional status of school children. Educational programs on food and nutrition should be implemented to improve the quality of the diet. © 2023 Sociedad espanola de dietetica. All rights reserved.