title: Nutritional Intervention to Improve the Quality of Lunchboxes Among Mexican School Children.
abstract: In Mexico, the type of foods included in the lunchboxes of school children are unhealthy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an intervention program to improve the quality of the foods in the lunchboxes. Two schools were randomly selected as the intervention group (IG) and two more as the control group (CG). The evaluation was performed by comparing a food list from 3 days before and 6 months after the intervention. The components of the intervention included: exposure to posters inside and outside the classrooms and the distribution of pamphlets to parents, the pamphlets provided recipes and information about healthy foods. A lunchbox was considered adequate (AL) if it had less than 276 cal, fruits or vegetables, and an item prepared at home; a healthy lunchbox (HL) consisted of fruits or vegetables, water, and it did not have unhealthy foods. At the beginning of the study there were no significant differences in the compliance of AL and HL in both groups. By the end of the study, 19 % of the children in the IG and 10 % of the children in the CG met the criteria of a HL (p = 0.002). The results of this study demonstrate that a simple, 6 month intervention targeting parents improved the quality of the foods in the lunchboxes of second and sixth graders.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Ciencias de la Salud, Valle de las Palmas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Campus Tijuana. Bulevar. Universitario Nº 1000 Valle de las Palmas, CP 22263, Tijuana, BC, Mexico.
authors.forename: Glenda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Díaz-Ramírez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina y Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Calzada Universidad # 14418, Mesa de Otay, CP 22390, Tijuana, BC, Mexico.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Cruz
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina y Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Calzada Universidad # 14418, Mesa de Otay, CP 22390, Tijuana, BC, Mexico. montserrat.bacardi@uabc.edu.mx.
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bacardí-Gascón
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D062409:Lunch; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D009753:Nutritive Value; D058996:Quality Improvement
keywords: Lunchbox; Mexico; Nutritional intervention; Randomized study