Food and nutritional education strategy in the prevention of nutritional disorders in preschoolers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the actions of food and nutritional education in the prevention of nutritional disorders in preschoolers. The study is part of the "Growing and Playing with Health and Nutrition" extension project, conducted in Alfenas, Minas Gerais. The classification of the nutritional status was performed using the Body Mass/Age Index. For the actions, ludic methodologies were used such as games, stories, and theater. A before and after questionnaire was carried to analyse the effectiveness of the actions and the knowledge of the preschoolers (n=40). Among the children evaluated, 77.5% presented eutrophy (adequate wheight) and 22.5% overweight. It was observed that these actions showed good results in the learning and that the use of ludic methodologies in school environment favors this process. It is concluded that these food and nutritional education actions should have its duration continued in order to contribute to effective changes in eating behaviour and, consequently, in the prevention of nutritional disorders.

Keywords

• Pré-escolar
• Educação Alimentar e Nutricional
• Distúrbios Nutricionais