The Program Niño Sano, Adulto Sano Improves Mothers’ Nutrition Knowledge and Food Practices, and Reduces Obesity in School-aged Children from a Low-income Setting in Mexico (FS16-02-19)

Abstract

ObjectivesEvaluate the effect of the nutrition program Niño Sano, Adulto Sano (Healthy Child, Healthy Adult) on mother’s nutrition knowledge and food practices. Also, to determine its effect on Body Mass Index (BMI) of both mothers and their children. MethodsA total of 43 mothers (35 ± 5 y) and their school-aged children (9 ± 3 y) participated in a 6-month longitudinal controlled study. Participants were residents of two low income communities in Queretaro, Mexico. The program Niño Sano, Adulto Sano was developed using the Intervention Mapping Approach and Social Cognitive Theory and consisted on six nutrition education sessions (1 per month) and six cooking workshops. The control group received three sessions (1 every 2 months) of nutrition education following the Mexican Official Guidelines. Height and weight of mothers and children were taken at baseline and after 6 months to determine mother’s BMI and children’s BMI-for-age z-score following WHO procedures. Mothers answered a validated questionnaire that consisted of eight Likert-type questions to evaluate nutrition knowledge and food practices at the beginning and end of the study. The data was analyzed by T-student of dependent variables using SPSSv19. ResultsThe combined prevalence of overweight and obesity at baseline was 88.3% and 51.4% for the mothers and their children, respectively. 47% of the children were girls. Mothers that participated in the nutrition program improved their nutrition related knowledge and food practices by 2.99 points (3.14, 95%CI: 1.21, 4.76; P = 0.0001) compared to the control group (1.27, 95%CI: 0.15, 2.39; P = 0.028). Children of the mothers that participated in the program significantly reduce their BMI for age by −0.27 units (0.30, 95%CI: 0.22, 0.39; P = 0.0001) compared with the control group (0.02, 95%IC: −0.11, 0.17 P = 0.70). No differences were observed between groups in the mothers’ BMI at the end of the study. ConclusionsThe nutrition intervention Niño Sano, Adulto Sano improved nutrition knowledge and food practices of participating mothers, it reduced BMI for age a of their children, but had no effect on mother’s BMI. Funding SourcesFondo de Proyectos Especiales de Rectoría (FOPER) of the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro.