Yu Xinxue, Huang Xiaoxia, Liang Xiaoping, Ou Qian, Sun Liuqiao, Ren Jieru, Wu Qiongmei, Chen Hangjun, Huang Qiaoli, Zhao Hanqing, Wei Jun, Wu Feng, Huang Sizhe, Wang Lijun
Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Health Care Centre for Primary and Secondary School of Zhongshan, Zhongshan, China.
J Hum Nutr Diet. 2024 Oct;37(5):1361-1373. doi: 10.1111/jhn.13343. Epub 2024 Jun 30.
Adequate nutritional knowledge and healthy dietary behaviours are essential for promoting rational nutrition for children. However, lack of nutritional knowledge and unhealthy dietary behaviours are common among Chinese children. Therefore, we developed a school-based nutrition education (NE) program to assess its impacts on nutritional knowledge and dietary behaviours in pupils.
In this trial, one school was assigned as an intervention group (n = 199) and the other two schools were designated as a control group (n = 140). Children in the intervention group received the NE program in addition to their regular health curriculum, whereas the control group continued with their usual health curriculum without any NE program materials.
Concerning nutritional knowledge, the mean difference (follow-up minus baseline) of average knowledge scores in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group (1.99 ± 3.22 vs. 0.66 ± 3.60, p = 0.001). However, subgroup analysis revealed that this difference disappeared among boys and students with malnutrition status. Regarding dietary behaviours, the NE program significantly increased the proportion of children exhibiting high frequencies of meat and nuts consumption in the intervention group, along with diverse food choice at breakfast. Additionally, it markedly reduced the proportion of children exhibiting high frequencies of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food consumption. Structural equation modelling analyses indicated a significant direct effect of NE intervention on nutritional knowledge and an indirect effect on dietary behaviours.
The NE program effectively enhanced nutritional knowledge scores and further improved dietary behaviours among Chinese primary school students. Future NE programs should pay more attention to boys and children with malnutrition.
充足的营养知识和健康的饮食行为对于促进儿童合理营养至关重要。然而，中国儿童中营养知识缺乏和不健康饮食行为普遍存在。因此，我们开发了一项基于学校的营养教育（NE）项目，以评估其对小学生营养知识和饮食行为的影响。
在本试验中，一所学校被指定为干预组（n = 199），另外两所学校被指定为对照组（n = 140）。干预组的儿童除了接受常规健康课程外，还接受了NE项目，而对照组继续进行其常规健康课程，没有任何NE项目材料。
关于营养知识，干预组平均知识得分的平均差异（随访减去基线）显著高于对照组（1.99±3.22对0.66±3.60，p = 0.001）。然而，亚组分析显示，这种差异在男孩和营养不良的学生中消失。关于饮食行为，NE项目显著提高了干预组中肉类和坚果消费频率高的儿童比例，以及早餐食物选择的多样性。此外，它显著降低了含糖饮料和快餐消费频率高的儿童比例。结构方程模型分析表明，NE干预对营养知识有显著直接影响，对饮食行为有间接影响。
NE项目有效提高了中国小学生的营养知识得分，并进一步改善了他们的饮食行为。未来的NE项目应更多关注男孩和营养不良的儿童。
