Conceptions of Brazilian elementary and high school students about food nutrients

Investigating Brazilian elementary and high school students on their conceptions of food nutrients, food pyramids, processed food labels and nutrition facts tables. The children who took part in the study were from sixth to ninth grade of elementary school and first to third grade of high school in a public school from Parana state of Brazil. A total of 257 students were examined, varying in age from 11 to 17. They were asked to perform group activities using food pyramids, processed food labels and nutritional facts tables, in order to analyse their understanding of nutritional composition. It was found that many students were not capable of distinguishing nutrients from food and showcased unsatisfactory and incoherent overall conceptions about food nutrients. This research study highlights the lack of food nutrition knowledge in these Brazilian children and shows the need for a health program to be implemented to raise awareness of nutritional composition of foods and their benefits to the body along with healthy eating habits. [NPID: perception, Brazil, elementary school, children, primary school, high school, students, school, food pyramid, processed food, food labels, food nutrition knowledge, nutrition knowledge]

Year: 2019

Reference: Zompero, A.D., Figueiredo, H.R., Garbim, T.H., & Vieira, K.M. (2019). Conceptions of Brazilian elementary and high school students about food nutrients. Creative Education, 10, 720-726.