Reasons Behind (Un)Healthy Eating Among School-Age Children in Southern Peru

Rios Mera,Juan Dario

Reasons Behind (Un)Healthy Eating Among School-Age Children in Southern Peru

dc.contributor.author	Rios Mera,Juan Dario
dc.date.accessioned	2025-12-09T17:51:46Z
dc.date.available	2025-12-09T17:51:46Z
dc.date.issued	2025-06-20
dc.description.abstract	In recent decades, rates of childhood overweight and obesity have increased worldwide, surpassing those of adults. Understanding the factors influencing children’s food choices is essential to promote healthy eating habits. This study examined why school-aged children make healthy and unhealthy food choices and how parents’ eating habits influence their children’s choices. Children’s ability to rank 25 food pictures according to their healthfulness was assessed using a free sorting task (FST), while parents made a free list of healthy and unhealthy foods, and the cognitive salience index (CSI) was calculated. Children were grouped into two groups based on their responses: one mainly from Moquegua and the other from Puno. In general, children from Moquegua demonstrated a greater ability to identify healthy foods than those from Puno. The CSI provided information on healthy and unhealthy foods in each region. These findings underline the potential of selecting palatable and healthy foods to improve children’s diets in the short term and contribute to the development of healthier products in the food industry. In addition, studies in other regions of Peru are recommended to understand children’s perceptions better.
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14030348
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14689/1006
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.publisher	Foods
dc.publisher.country	CH
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.source	Universidad Nacional de Jaén\|\|Repositorio Institucional – UNJ
dc.subject	descriptive projective technique
dc.subject	healthy foods
dc.subject	nutritional knowledge
dc.subject	sensory methods
dc.subject	Peruvian children
dc.subject.ocde	https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#2.11.01
dc.title	Reasons Behind (Un)Healthy Eating Among School-Age Children in Southern Peru
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
renati.author.dni	47703869