Characteristics of the snack consumed by preschoolers and its relationship with the anthropometric nutritional status, Noetinger, Córdoba

Abstract

Introduction: school snack plays an important role in healthy eating habits. The assessment of nutritional status based on body mass index (BMI) is a useful tool in the detection of nutritional deficiencies or excesses.

Objective: to know the foods consumed as a snack, their caloric intake value and their relationship with the anthropometric nutritional status of preschoolers who attend two public and private educational establishments, in the town of Noetinger, province of Córdoba, in 2018.

Material and methods: descriptive, correlational and transversal study. Out of164 preschoolers enrolled in the 2018 school year, the non-probabilistic intentional sample was finally made up of n = 113 (n = 56 boys and n = 57 girls), between 2 and 6 years of age who agreed to participate, and their caregivers signed the informed consent.

The nutritional status with BMI/age was evaluated according to WHO categorization (2006). According to household measures and Food Atlas (Atlas de Alimentos (2007)), quantity, type, preparation and/or brand of the food/beverages consumed per classroom were recorded. They were converted into grams in order to determine the caloric value of the collation using the Dietplan4 software, and re-categorizing the caloric value of the collation as high/adequate/low. Collations were determined as healthy and unhealthy according to the Food Guidelines (Guías Alimentarias) for The Argentine population. The Chi-square test with a p <0.05 and the statistical software InfoStat 2014 version were used.

Results: the BMI/age was normal in 45.15%, 43.36% showed overweight/obesity and 11.49% showed underweight/low weight risk. There was greater overweight/obesity (48.9%) in children aged 5-6 years. 66.37% of de children consumed unhealthy foods (alfajores (stuffed biscuits), pastries, snacks, filled cookies and sweets). Half of the preschoolers brought sugary juices as part of the snack. 69.04% chose collations with high caloric value and 30.96% with medium/low caloric value. No statistically significant association was found between the type of food consumed as collation and nutritional status, nor between BMI/age and the caloric intake of collations.

Conclusion: snacks themselves do not determine the nutritional status of preschoolers; however, they are part of their daily diet and, in the light of the increasing prevalence of malnutrition due to excess in childhood and the intake of ultra-processed foods that are rich in simple sugars, saturated fats, sodium and lack in nutritional value, it is necessary to promote healthy habits in the educational institutions and in the family environment of the children