Abstract:

Introduction and objective: The selection of foods chosen by children is part of a complex system that is influenced by the parents and cultural and social practices of the group to which they belong. The objective of this study was to relate the nutritional status of elementary school students with schooling, socioeconomic class, food consumption, nutritional knowledge and nutritional status of the parents of a private school in the south of São Paulo. Material and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study with 61 students and parents. The assessment of weight and height of students followed the criteria established by the World Health Organization. Data were collected on socioeconomic class, schooling, food consumption, nutritional knowledge, weight and height of the parents, through a structured questionnaire. Results and Discussion: Predominant socioeconomic class B, 57% of parents with more than 9 years of schooling, food consumption indicating that they need attention and moderate nutritional knowledge. Overweight was found in 33% of the students, 51% of the mothers and 72% of the parents. There was a positive correlation between the body weight and the BMI of the mothers with that of the children (r = 0.37, p = 0.004) and (r = 0.33, p = 0.010), respectively. Conclusion: The nutritional status of the students was not related to schooling, socioeconomic class, food consumption and nutritional knowledge of the parentes, but with the nutritional status of the mothers, where the body weight and the Body Mass Index of the mothers influenced the increase of the body weight and the Body Mass Index of the children.

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