México Daily consumption of fruits, vegetables and drinks during the school day in children from primary education in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Abstract

Introduction: regular and adequate consumption of water, fruits and vegetables provide micronutrients that improve memory capacity, visual atten-tion, concentration, learning and consequently generate better academic performance in schoolchildren. Objective: to identify the daily consumption of fruits, vegetables and beverages during the school day and to relate its consumption with the nutritional status, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (CC) in primary school children from Reynosa Tamaulipas Mexico. Materials and method: descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study. The sample was composed of 1,243 school children aged 6 to 12 years. Nutritional status and food consumption were evaluated during school break. Results: 49.6\% of the students had a combined prevalence of overweight and obesity. 20.3\% of the children brought one or more portions of fruit during the week, 2.49\% and 3.37\% included vegetables and sandwich vegetables in their snacks respectively. As for the beverages, 51.6\% carried water and the rest (48.4\%) included sugary drinks. Children with a ``normal{''} nutritional status had higher consumption of water and sugary drinks (p >= 0.05). According to the correlation, it was identified that fruit and water consumption correlated inversely with CC (p<0.05). Conclusions: there is very low consumption of fruits and vegetables, but high consumption of sugary drinks. No association was found between nutritional status and study variables. As for the negative correlation, it indicates that higher intake of fruit and water lower CC. Therefore, nutritional interventions involving parents should be developed to increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, water and decrease sugary drinks.