Weight status and adherence to the mediterranean diet in children from 6 to 9 years old in the interval of 10 years

Abstract

Introduction: in recent years Spain has seen a progressive departure from the pattern of the Mediterranean Diet (DM) and a progressive increase in childhood overweight and obesity.The KIDMED test is considered by several authors as a suitable tool to assess DM adherence, which has demonstrated its potential for body weight control

Objective: to analyze the weight status and adherence to the MD pattern in children aged 6 to 9 who used the school cafeteria during the 2018-2019 academic year and compare the results with those obtained in 2008-2009.

Method: descriptive cross-sectional and comparative study of weight status and eating habits in schoolchildren between 6 and 9 years old who used the school canteen services in 2008-2009 (n = 231) and 2018-2019 (n = 83). The variables are expressed as frequencies and means ± SD, the Student's t test was applied to compare the means of the quantitative variables and the Chi-square test to evaluate the independence between qualitative variables (p <0.05).

Results: no significant differences were observed between boys and girls in 2018-2019 in terms of age, height, weight, BMI and KIDMED index, nor in weight status between the different groups of children according to the year of schooling. The average value of the KIDMED index in 2018-2019 (7.08 ± 2.0) decreased significantly compared to 2008-2009 (7.6 ± 2.0).

Conclusions: the weight status of children from 6 to 9 years old who used the school canteen services in public schools in Soria has not changed in 10 years, however adherence to the DM has decreased slightly