Using Soybean Products in School Lunch for Health Education may improve Children’s Attitude and Guardians’ Knowledge in Kindergarten

Soybean products are healthy and an important source of vegetable protein in Japan. This study examines the effects of using soybean products at home and decreasing children’s dislike of soybean products. A quasiexperimental pre-post-test design was utilised to examine the effect of using school lunch programs to assess the consumption of soybean products. The study’s participants included 309 children (mean 4.2 ± 0.8 ages) attending kindergarten and nursery facilities. We compared the score among the 3 groups (Intervention, Comparison A and Comparison B) before and after the intervention. Children thinking about ‘respect for food’ was significantly higher in the intervention groups than the comparison group (p<0.01, p=N.S, p=N.S, by Fisher’s exact test). The improvement in knowledge about nutrition education in the intervention group and Comparison A was significantly higher than comparison B (p<0.01, p<0.01, p=N.S). Health education involving the soybeans program may lead to an increase in thinking about ‘respect for food’ among kindergarten children and an increase giving knowledge in their guardians. Using Soybean Products in School Lunch for Health Education may improve Children’s Attitude and Guardians’ Knowledge in Kindergarten Tomoko Osera1,2, Setsuko Tsutie3, Misako Kobayashi2 and Nobutaka Kurihara1* 1Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Life Science, Kobe Women’s University, Japan 2Takakuradai Kindergarten attached to Kobe Women’s University, Japan 3Clinical Nutrition Management, Graduate School of Life Science, Kobe Women’s University, Japan