The Effects of a Nutritional Education Package Titled "Eat a Rainbow Every Day" on Eating Behaviors and Physical Activity of Elementary School Children

Mahdieh Sheikhi; Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaei; Monir Eftekharinia; Maryam Zaboli

doi:10.18502/jnfs.v8i4.14015

Mahdieh Sheikhi Department of Community Nutrition, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute; Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaei Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
Monir Eftekharinia Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
Maryam Zaboli Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jnfs.v8i4.14015

Keywords: Body mass index; Eating behavior; Knowledge; Physical activity; Elementary school

Abstract

Background: In school age children, a healthy nutritional behavior can prevent double burden of malnutrition and chronic diseases. Nutritional education has a key role in adopting a healthy lifestyle. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational package on the nutritional knowledge and practices, physical activity (PA), and body mass index (BMI) of elementary school children in Zahedan, southeast Iran. Methods: In this quasi-experimental before-after study, a total of 734 elementary school children‎, aged 10–14 years, recruited by census sampling method completed the survey. Each student received 8 hours of training and they were provided with a booklet that included a weekly chart for recording intake of food groups and PA by students for 3 months. A semi-structured questionnaire that included questions on the students' nutritional knowledge, eating behavior, PA performance, and BMI before and after the intervention was used for data collection. Paired t-test, McNemar's, and Friedman tests were used for data analysis. Results: Before the intervention, the mean score of nutritional knowledge was 7.5 and the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity was 17.4% and 0.4%, respectively. After the intervention, the results showed a significant increase in the nutritional knowledge scores, the number of days with 30 min PA per week, and the frequency of consumption of dairy products, animal protein, and fruits. Also, in comparison with before intervention, a significant decrease was found in the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity of school children after the intervention. Conclusion: This multifaceted nutritional education intervention was associated with improved nutritional knowledge score, PA, and being underweight in elementary school children.