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conferenceseries.com
Volume 9 Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
ISSN: 2155-9600 Clinical Nutrition 2019
March 04-06, 2019
March 04-06, 2019 | Barcelona, Spain
24th International Conference on
Clinical Nutrition
Maestra Natura: A nutrition education program tested for efficacy in Italian children
Annalisa Silenzi1, Roberta Masella1, Rosaria Varì1, Beatrice Scazzocchio1, Sara Del Papa1 , Antonio d’Amore1, Claudio Giovannini1, Patrizia De Sanctis1,
and Annamaria Gimigliano 2
1Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Italy
2AMG Edutainment s.r.l., Rome, Italy
Introduction: The prevalence of paediatric overweight/obesity is a public health problem worldwide. Educational
programs have been carried out in the last few years in Italy. However, their real effectiveness is still uncertain.
Maestra Natura (MN) is an innovative education program implemented by our institute to fill the gaps in children
knowledge on nutritional issues overcoming possible gender differences. It has been tested from 2012 to 2017 in six
Italian regions by involving 20000 students aged 6-13.
Aim: To assess the effectiveness of MN program in enabling children to transfer the food pyramid contents in a
practical context and to highlight possible gender differences in dietary habits.
Methodology: The didactic contents were distributed by a web platform to about 1000 students of primary school
(V class) and secondary-first level school (second class). Dietary habits were assessed by a validated questionnaire.
The students were required to organize a weekly meal planner before and after the completion of the educational
programs. Each menu was evaluated on the basis of established criteria to reward the insertion of fruit, vegetables,
legumes and fish and to penalize the wrong use of protein food.
Results: Data collected evidenced gender differences in behaviours/eating habits. In addition, females had better
basic nutrition knowledge than males; interestingly, this difference disappeared at the end of the didactic path.
Significant differences between the beginning and the end of the scholastic year were found in terms of student
knowledge.
Conclusions: The MN program was effective in transferring information contained in the food pyramid to the real
context of a daily menu. Furthermore, MN program was able to fill the gender-driven gap in nutrition knowledge.
This activity favored a greater awareness on the importance of having appropriate dietary habits.
Biography
Annalisa Silenzi has been studying the role of dietary components in the pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of pathologies with dietary-nutritional risk
factors such as obesity, type II diabetes and cancer. Specifically, her studies has been focusing on the mechanisms of action exerted by dietary polyphenols
and n3/n6 fatty acids by studying their biological properties and effects inin vivo, ex vivo and in vitro systems. For many years she has been involved in nutrition
education programs addressed to primary and secondary first level school children and in the promotion of healthy lifestyles among young and adult people.
Annalisa Silenzi et al., J Nutr Food Sci 2019, Volume 9
DOI: 10.4172/2155-9600-C2-093