TITLE:
Evaluation of a Nutrition Intervention through a School-Based Food Garden to Improve Dietary Consumption, Habits and Practices in Children from the Third to Fifth Grade in Chile
AUTHORS:
Diego Vinueza, Lydia Lera, Judith Salinas, Carmen Gloria González, Lorena Barrios, Fernando Vio
KEYWORDS:
Nutritional Education, School-Based Food Gardens, Elementary Education, Healthy Eating
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.7 No.10,
August
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: Objective: Use a
school-based food garden as an instrument to improve healthy dietary consumption,
habits, and practices among children from the third to fifth grade in public
schools in Chile. Design:
Quasi-experimental, six-month intervention with an evaluation of dietary
consumption, habits, and practices and use of the school-based food garden
among the 3rd to 5th grade students. Setting:
Two municipal schools in a low-middle income district in Santiago de Chile; one
with a school garden intervention and a control school without a garden. Subjects: 155 third to fifth grade children, 63
in the intervention school and 92 in the control school (average age 10 years
old, 58% boys). Results:
In the intervened school, there was a significant improvement in the children’s
dietary habits, such as peeling and slicing fruit (p Conclusions:
The school-based food garden was effective in achieving change in dietary
habits and practices among the third to fifth grade children. The project
should be carried out for a longer period of time, so that the changes will be
reflected in the students’ food consumption and nutritional status.