Práticas alimentares, percepções de sustentabilidade e consumo de alimentos industrializados em escolares de uma Instituição social de Lavras-MG

Abstract

Adequate and healthy nutrition during childhood is essential for physical and intellectual development, including the prevention of chronic non-communicable conditions in the future. At the same time, caring for the environment through food becomes essential for the prevention of other diseases in the population, in addition to improving morals in the face of social responsibilities. To this end, the present work was divided into two stages, with the objectives (1) to prepare a review of studies carried out on the topic of sustainability in Food and Nutritional Education actions in Brazilian children and adolescents and, (2) to diagnose children's eating practices and adolescents participating in a social project, considering interfering factors, beliefs and eating habits. In the first stages, the studies included in the review were free access, using the PRISMA protocol, considering articles published in the periods between 2015 and 2023, in the languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese, addressing the theme of sustainability and environmental education in EAN actions, among Brazilian children and adolescents. To the bases were; SciELO, LILACS and BVS. 7 works remained for review. The selected articles addressed the EAN and the brevity of putting into practice actions that trigger attitudes of protection and conservation of the planet in the short, medium and long term, taking into account food that prioritizes its care, avoiding waste of food. food and conscious decision-making, elucidating the topic of sustainability in EAN actions. For the second stage of the work, 90 children and adolescents aged between 7 and 15 years of primary school were involved, from the SEMEARTE project in the municipality of Lavras – MG. The descriptive method was used with a quantitative approach that considered a non-probabilistic sample. Three questionnaires were used (QUADA, PENSE and SUSTAINABILITY) to assess knowledge regarding food, eating practices and sustainability. The data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis in the statistical software R. The average age of the children who participated was 8 years old (SD 1.3 years old) and the average age of the adolescents was 12 years old (SD 1.3 years old). The main foods consumed were biscuits and bread for breakfast and afternoon, rice, beans, salad and some source of protein at lunch, at dinner some ultra-processed foods were eaten, as snacks, in addition to processed foods rich in sodium and saturated fat such as burgers. Although the majority of children do not know the meaning of sustainability (77%), the majority responded positively to questions related to caring for the environment. Teenagers have knowledge about sustainability and measures to be taken to help it, with 73% of teenagers being aware of some measure to conserve the planet and 69% have heard of actions taken to conserve it. The children and adolescents studied in the SEMEARTE project showed a high consumption of ultra-processed foods within the family, with the main interference being parents and guardians, with systemic knowledge about sustainability and the means of conserving the planet.