Conducta alimentaria y su incidencia en el estado nutricional de los preescolares del Jardín Carlos Chaves Guerrero en la ciudad de Guaranda, provincia de Bolívar 2013.

Abstract

The objective of this research is to find out about preschool children´s eating behaviors and to contribute to their good nutritional status at the Carlos Chaves Guerrero School in the city of Guaranda. This is a non-experimental but transversal study in which 80 preschool children were analyzed. The” Little faces” (" Caritas ") and "Draw my eating habits" (“Dibujar mis hábitos alimenticios”) were the tools utilized in this study. Software JMP 5.1 was used to process the collected data. The results were as follows considering 55% female and 45% male children. The nutritional status according to BMI (Body Mass Index) is the following: 71% are within the normal weight, 23 % have overweight, 4 % have obesity, and 2% are under weight. In reference to stature / age 84 % have a normal stature, 12 % have low stature, and 4% have a severe low stature. Concerning eating behaviors which were measured though the tool "Drawing my eating habits ", 56 % of the children have healthy eating habits and 44 % of them have unhealthy eating habits. Regarding the study done with the tool "Little Faces", 35 % have good knowledge about good nutrition, 33 % have medium knowledge, 20 % have a very high knowledge, 6 % have little knowledge and 6 % have very little knowledge. As a conclusion, children´s low knowledge about healthy food and about bad eating habits determine malnutrition problems; therefore the hypothesis has been accepted. It is recommended that teachers and parents promote inside and outside their homes good behavior and good knowledge about adequate eating habits so that health does not become a problem.