Fruit and vegetable consumption in Latvian schools with various training programs on healthy diet
2019
Beitane, I., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Food Technology. Dept. of Nutrition | Nevarzavska, M., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Food Technology. Dept. of Nutrition
Fruit and vegetable recommendations for pupils are similar in the world and in Latvia, that is, at least 5 servings per day, but this is not the case most often. The objective of this study was to assess the contribution of schools with various training programs on healthy diet to raising the fruit and vegetable consumption among pupils. The study involved pupils in grades 6, 9 and 11 from Latvian schools with various training programs for healthy diet in order to analyse students' theoretical knowledge about the role of fruits and vegetables in the diet and their practical experience). Pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the consumption and importance of fruit and vegetables in the diet was strongly influenced by gender (p is less than 0.05), and in some cases by age, while school training program on healthy diet had no significant impact (p is larger than 0.05). Pupils lacked understanding about the amount of the required fruit and vegetable consumption because one third of the pupils thought that eating 5 servings of fruit and vegetables was unnecessary. The pupils did not understand the essence of a healthy diet because the portion of fried potatoes was indicated as one vegetable portion. Uniformity was observed in the pupils' diet, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots were the most consumed vegetables, while within fruits − apples and bananas. Improving the pupils’ healthy diet program should take into account the different interests of the pupils’ gender, age and desire to acquire knowledge in practice.
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