Abstract

Author(s): Lucía P

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 evaluate adherence to DM and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 6 to 9 who used the services of the school canteen in Soria and its variation over time.

Method: data collection was carried out during the years 2008-2009 (G1) and 2018-2019 (G2); Adherence to DM was assessed using the KIDMED questionnaire. Data were collected from 314 children. 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 the G2 group in terms of age, height, weight, BMI and KIDMED index, nor in the BMI between the G1 and G2 groups. The mean value of the KIDMED index in group G2 (7.08 ± 2.0) decreased significantly compared to that of group G1 (7.08 ± 2.0). The proportion of positive responses to the KIDMED test questions about consuming pasta or rice almost daily; eating nuts regularly and take 2 yogurts or / and 40 g of cheese every day were higher in group G1 than in group G2.

Conclusions: the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 6 to 9 who use the school canteen services in public schools in Soria seems to have stabilized in recent years, while adherence to DM has decreased slightly