[Food promotion and food preferences in Chilean school age children from different socioeconomic levels].
To determine the attitude towards marketing of food and beverages a sample of 1,048 school children ages 8 to 13 from three cities of Chile (north, center and south of the country) were interviewed. The instrument applied was a validated questionnaire used in previous studies. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed and differences were determined by region, socioeconomic level (SEL) and gender using Chi2 test. Differences per SEL were higher in Santiago. A greater proportion of school children of medium-low SEL watched more than 2 hours of TV during weekdays and weekends (p < 0.001). The proportion of children that liked food and beverage commercials was greater in medium-low SEL in Santiago (66%) (p < 0.001), as opposed to 26 to 35% in the medium high SEL. A high percentage indicated that they liked promotional campaigns of foods at supermarkets, on the streets, shopping centers and on the Internet. The preferred commercials were those for beverages, chocolates, ice-creams and cereals. Most common foods taken from home to school were cookies, fruits and yogurt. Most of the children had money available to buy food and the products more frequently preferred were cookies, sweets, French fries, beverages with sugar, chocolates, ice-creams and hot-dogs.


CONCLUSIONS
marketing of food and beverages is recognized and remembered by school age children, influencing what they buy and consume regularly at school.
Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud y de los Alimentos, Universidad del Bio Bio, Chile.
Sonia
S
Olivares
Lydia
L
Lera
María Angélica
MA
Mardones
Jacqueline
J
Araneda
Nelly
N
Bustos
María Antonieta
MA
Olivares
María Ester
ME
Colque
D000293:Adolescent; D000329:Advertising; D001628:Beverages; D002648:Child; D002677:Chile; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television