Improving diet quality in children through a new nutritional education programme: INFADIMED

Abstract

Objective: To assess the results of a nutritional education programme developed by using available local resources to improve diet quality and decrease overweight and obesity prevalence among children. Method: A longitudinal intervention study by means of nutritional education (INFADIMED) in children (aged 3-7 years) from Vilafranca del Penedes (Barcelona, Spain), recruited from preschool centres and primary schools, with an intervention or INFADIMED group (n=319; 50.2% female) and a control group (n = 880; 49.8% female). Weight, height and body mass index were measured in both groups at the beginning and at the end of the programme. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was also assessed using the KIDMED test. Results: Consumption of fruit or juices, vegetables, yogurt and/or cheese, pasta or rice, and nuts increased, while skipping breakfast, consumption of bakery products for breakfast, and/or consumption of sweets several times per day decreased in the INFADIMED group. INFADIMED also changed, from the beginning to the end of the study, the adherence to a Mediterranean diet: high (39.2% to 70.5%), acceptable (49.2% to 28.2%), and low (11.6% to 1.3%). Approximately 2.6% of the participants in the control group and 11.3% of the participants in the INFADIMED group who were overweight and obese changed to normal weight (odds ratio: 4.08; 95% confidence interval: 2.37-7.04). Conclusions: INFADIMED is a nutritional education programme with benefits on both diet quality and overweight and obesity prevalence among children.