Knowledge and beliefs about nutrition: comparison among different educational levels pre-service teachers

Abstract

Food literacy of the population is an increasingly relevant aspect of health education in society to prevent or slow down the increase in the prevalence of some problems such as obesity. To achieve this goal, it is crucial that teachers have a comprehensive and deep training in nutrition and feeding, as well as to know relevant aspects about the problem of obesity. The objective of this study is to analyze the knowledge of feeding and nutrition, as well as the beliefs and attitudes towards obesity of future teachers. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 300 teachers in training, Infant Preschool Degree and Primary Degree and High School teachers. The results showed that the training of teachers is shallow in basic issues about nutrients as well as in the factors involved in obesity, resulting similar to that of the general population, ignoring the relevance of factors such as hormonal, chronobiology or microbiota. In accordance with previous studies, it is essential that teachers receive adequate training for students to acquire adequate knowledge and develop skills.