[A methodological proposal to include nutrition education in primary schools. Experience in Chile]

This article presents the methodology to incorporate nutrition education in Chilean primary schools. In 2001, nutritional status, food and nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices of 1701 school children from ten urban and rural public schools (3rd to 7th grade) were evaluated. This information was necessary to design the nutrition education strategy. The prevalence of obesity was 15.4% and overweight 19.6%. Daily intake of dairy products, fruits and vegetables was low, while the consumption of energy dense snacks was very high. Because the Ministry of Education does not allow the incorporation of new programs to the curriculum, the educational strategy was based on the development of a text book, a teacher's guide, five practical guides for students from third to eight grade and a CD-Rom. These materials were validated by 36 teachers through an educational intervention during 5 months in six schools (intervention groups). The teachers reported that the educational materials were useful, motivational and easy to understand for both, teachers and students. Preliminary results showed a significant increase in food and nutrition knowledge, in the consumption of dairy products and a decrease in the consumption of bread among the intervention groups. Intake of snacks increased in both groups, but it was significantly higher in the control group. These results indicate that nutrition education will only produce significant changes in food habits if health and educational authorities establish regulations for food advertisement oriented to children and also to food items sold in the schools.