Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention to Reduce the Consumption of High-calorie Foods in Public School Children in Teresina, Piauí (brazil).

INTRODUCTION there is high prevalence of overweight and poor food habits among adolescents, and these factors contribute to the development of chronic diseases. OBJECTIVE the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention designed to reduce the consumption of high-calorie foods in public school children in Teresina, Piaui, Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS quasi-experimental, randomized, quantitative intervention study involving adolescents (n = 126) of both sexes aged 10-14 years. An educational intervention, which involved 9 weekly meetings, was developed. A questionnaire was completed prior and subsequent to the intervention. Associations between variables were examined using a chi-square test (x2). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION there was a significant reduction in the consumption of soft drinks and processed juices subsequent to the educational intervention (p = 0.007). It has further reduction in weekly consumption of food like meat and sausage (p = 0.072). Adolescents' weekly consumption of fried foods and potato chips also decreased significantly subsequent to the educational intervention (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS the food and nutrition educational program was efficacious in reducing the adolescents' intake of high-calorie food and drinks and contributed to an improvement in the quality of food consumed by the schoolchildren evaluated.