[Antecedents for the teaching of nutrition in the Chilean school system]

This article reports that as part of the research into the Chilean population's understanding, habits, and beliefs about food and analysis was made of food and nutrition knowledge in a sample of 966 elementary and secondary school teachers and 1,050 freshmen students of different schools of the University of Chile in 1979, located in three cities in the north, center, and south of the country. Their knowledge of food and nutrition was tested using a standardized questionnaire. The results of the test were graded according to the percentage of correct answers in six categories. Only 30.6 per cent of the teachers and 17 per cent of the students scored above the acceptable minimum of 50 per cent. It is evident that food and nutrition knowledge of elementary and secondary school teachers and of freshmen students at the University of Chile is insufficient. The relationship between the knowledge variable and other variables in the study shows that this lack is mainly related to environmental factors, independent of formal education. The article offers specific suggestions to be incorporated in the nutrition education curriculum in Chile.