Food and Nutrition Education against Overweight and Obesity in School-age Children: A Scoping Review of progress in Spanish-speaking Countries

Abstract

School-aged children may benefit from education interventions focused on healthy eating and physical activity to improve their quality of life. This article aims to review scientific evidence on food and nutrition education (FNE) in Spanish-speaking countries for the prevention of overweight and obesity in school-aged children (6-12 y). Articles were searched between April and August 2021. The searches were conducted using MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and SciELO. The primary search for articles focused on the experience of FNE interventions in Spanish-speaking countries. Overall, 518 articles were found and 33 studies were eligible for data extraction. Forty-two percent of the studies had a focus on FNE and 64% were focused on describing the eating habits of schoolchildren. Nutritional assessments (anthropometric) were found frequently with 91% and 30% of the studies focused on physical activity. All interventions focused on preventing or reducing overweight and obesity in school-age children. Educational, cognitive, dietary, and physical activity practices were described, whit being educational the most frequent intervention. Interventions reported positive effects of FNE interventions to improve knowledge and practices of healthy lifestyles in school-age children.

A Systematic Review of School-Based Nutrition Interventions for Promoting Healthy Dietary Practices and Lifestyle Among School Children and Adolescents

“…Regarding intervention types, 13 studies involved extensive multi-component strategies [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]31,34,52,55], 15 were nutrition education interventions [17,19,20,21,[23][24][25][26][27]51,57,[59][60][61][62], six focused on physical activity interventions [28,32,35,36,38,54], and four on lifestyle and nutrition-related behavior [40,42,43,53]. Another 24 of the 62 included studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]18,22,26,29,30,…”

“…Regarding intervention types, 13 studies involved extensive multi-component strategies [ 8 - 16 , 31 , 34 , 52 , 55 ], 15 were nutrition education interventions [ 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23 - 27 , 51 , 57 , 59 - 62 ], six focused on physical activity interventions [ 28 , 32 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 54 ], and four on lifestyle and nutrition-related behavior [ 40 , 42 , 43 , 53 ]. Another 24 of the 62 included studies [ 1 - 7 , 18 , 22 , 26 , 29 , 30 , 33 , 37 , 39 , 41 , 44 - 50 , 58 ] were original articles, review articles, and government guidelines, protocols, policies, and reports regarding school children and adolescents’ nutritional status.…”