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Abstract
This study evaluated school ambience and the nutritional status of preschoolers in the Macaé city public system. This is a cross-sectional study with secondary anthropometric data collected between 2012 and 2014. In all, 962 children, aged 2.1 to 6.6 years from four schools were analyzed as per the World Health Organization recommendation. Ambience was assessed qualitatively by direct observation. Logistic regression verified the probability of different nutritional deviations among schools. The prevalence of nutritional excess was alarming, especially for children under five (13.7%). In children aged five years and over, the two schools with large social support network in their surroundings had a lower probability of nutritional excess (OR = 0.40 and OR = 0.33; p < 0.05). The school with more cafeterias and food advertisements in the territory had higher proportion of obesity. Positive factors of ambience within schools, such as the lack of commercial canteen, could not avoid nutritional excess. This paper warns about the importance of surroundings, especially social support. This is poorly addressed in nutrition literature, but may be a differential in the nutritional profile, mainly when key aspects of protection within school are adequate.
Highlights
Assessing the nutritional profile of children is an essential tool to verify the health conditions of communities[1,2]
Unlike developed countries, where high prevalence of childhood obesity have been found for decades[11], Brazil is a relatively recent epidemiological panorama, which is accompanied by a significant decline in weight and growth deficits[9,12]
In order to understand the interaction between nutritional profile and a set of factors of the school routine and of the physical space in the internal environment and in the school surroundings, this study aimed to evaluate the school ambience and the nutritional status of children of the municipal early childhood education system of Macaé
Summary
Assessing the nutritional profile of children is an essential tool to verify the health conditions of communities[1,2]. The school nutritional diagnosis is planned in government programs, such as the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and the School Health Program (PSE), which seek to promote healthy eating, health and nutrition in the public school system[5,8]. This governmental attention to the nutritional situation in Brazilian schools is due in particular to the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity found in children in the country[9,10]. Unlike developed countries, where high prevalence of childhood obesity have been found for decades[11], Brazil is a relatively recent epidemiological panorama, which is accompanied by a significant decline in weight and growth deficits[9,12]
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