Impact of A School Nutrition Program (SNP) in Malaysia

Background/Aims: Malaysian primary school children are at risk of poor dietary behaviors and low physical activity that may affect their nutritional status and cognitive performance. Therefore, a Healthy Lifestyle Program (HLP) that integrated both nutrition education and school food environment is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of nutrition and metabolism 2019-01, Vol.75, p.366
Main Authors: Huey, Teo Choon, Siew, Chin Yit, Ying, Lim Poh, Masrom, Shahril Azian Bin, Shariff, Zalilah Binti Mohd
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body mass index
Body size
Children
Cognitive ability
Eating
Eating behavior
Education
Feeding behavior
Intervention
Mathematical analysis
Nutrition
Nutritional status
Physical activity
Physical fitness
Questionnaires
Risk taking
Schools
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Summary:Background/Aims: Malaysian primary school children are at risk of poor dietary behaviors and low physical activity that may affect their nutritional status and cognitive performance. Therefore, a Healthy Lifestyle Program (HLP) that integrated both nutrition education and school food environment is developed to improve nutrition knowledge and attitude among intervention respondents, and facilitate them the environment to practice healthy eating habits. The present study evaluated the impact of HLP in eating behaviors, physical activity, body mass index-for-age and cognitive performance before and after program between intervention and comparison groups. Methods: This quasi-experimental study recruited 523 primary school children (aged 7–11 years) from six randomly selected schools in Batu Pahat District, Johor, Malaysia. All respondents were required to complete anthropometric measurements, Eating Behaviors Questionnaires (EBQ), and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C), while cognitive performance was assessed using Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices during pre-intervention, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Linear Mixed Model analysis was performed to determine the impact of HLP after adjusted for covariates (child's age, sex, parental education level and school type). Results: The intervention group showed more frequent consumption of breakfast, lunch, dinner and morning tea, higher frequency of physical activity and better cognitive performance as compared to comparison group overtime, after adjusting for covariates (p < 0.05). At 3-month follow-up, intervention group reported lower BAZ than their comparison counterparts (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The HLP shows positive impacts on eating behaviors, physical activity and cognitive performance of Batu Pahat children. Hence, the HLP is highly recommended to extend to all Malaysia primary schools.
ISSN:0250-6807
1421-9697
DOI:10.1159/000501751