Rimantas Stukas

Abstract

Primary schoolchildrens health is getting worse every year. Only one third of those  children who start going to school are healthy. Sometimes it is caused by disbalanced nutrition, physical inactivity and improper day’s routine. According to scientific research, nutrition and lifestyle of a child is dramatically influenced by the social status of the family, education of parents. Only a few researches have been performed on the infants of Lithuania in this respect.
The aim of the work – to evaluate the peculiarities of nutritional habits of primary schoolchildrens in Vilnius city. The study has been carried out by way of an anonymous poll. The questionnaire was prepared in accordance with the customised questionnaire on schoolchildren‘s health and lifestyle by WHO. Two Vilnius city schools participated in the study, parents of 460 students have been interviewed about the nutritional habits of their children.
It was found that primary school students usually eat four times a day. 84.8% of students snack between main meals. 73.3% of students follow eating regime, the majority of  students (65.7%) eat breakfast every day. Food supplements are used by 44.4% of primary school students, most of them are first-former (p <0.05). Food supplementation doesn’t depend on parents education. Children of university-educated parents tend to fallow eating regime and eat breakfast than children of parents with secondary education. Children of university-educated parents eat less fruit, meat, fish and legume crops  than children of parents with secondary education (p <0.05). But children of more educated parents consume less confectionery and consume more organic foods. High education and good social and economic situation of the family does not guarantee the compliance of child’s nutritional with the healthy nutrition  recommendations.

Keyword(s): primary schoolchildren, nutrition, eating habits.
DOI: 10.5200/201
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