Educação nutricional: uma necessidade eminente no currículo do estado de São Paulo

Abstract

Considering the fact that Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases are responsible for the majority of the deaths which happen nowadays, the objective of this study is to point out the importance of including Nutritional Education as a subject in the public high schools of São Paulo state, as a preventive measure of Chronic Non–Communicable Diseases, through the investigation of children and youth’s nutritional status in a public high school denominated as Escola Estadual “Prof.ª Flora Prestes Cesar” in the city of Sarapuí, state of São Paulo. This study presents and discusses concepts about Nutritional Education, balanced diet, obesity and its consequences, and the public policy about these items as well. Through a field research, in which 150 students underwent anthropometric measures and were interviewed with the use of a questionnaire about the frequency of food consumption and their knowledge about the function of the nutrients. The results pointed out that 24% of the students are out of the ideal body weight and there is a large gap which concerns about their knowledge towards Nutritional Education.