IMPACTO DE UM PROGRAMA DE EDUCAÇÃO NUTRICIONAL EM ADOLESCENTES ESTUDANTES DA REDE PÚBLICA impact of a nutritional education program among adolescents at a public school

This was an intervention study developed among adolescents (10-12 years old) participating in nutrition workshops at a public school in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Its aim was to evaluate the impact of an intervention program based on nutritional education activities on the students’ knowledge. Initially, the nutritional profile of the students was evaluated using anthropometry (weight and height) and applying a questionnaire on food preferences. The food and nutrition education activities took place over seven meetings and were based on the food pyramid groups and the school-provided meal. A questionnaire was applied before and after the activities to evaluate the knowledge acquired through the intervention. The sample consisted of 32 students, but only 43.8% (n=14) had their nutritional profile evaluated. Among these, 64% were girls, with a mean age of 10.5±0.8 years. It was seen that 7% presented height deficit and 21% overweight. Regarding their food preferences, there was a high percentage of inadequate diet, particularly in relation to foods in the milk/dairy and meat groups. Improvements in the students’ knowledge of the topics broached were identified: the percentages of correct responses before and after the program were 49.9±17.6% and 62.8±17.1%, respectively (p=0.004). Thus, it was concluded that the adolescents evaluated were in a situation of nutritional risk and that the intervention program developed was capable of improving their knowledge regarding healthy eating practices. However, the need to