Relación entre el conocimiento de los padres del etiquetado nutricional y el consumo de alimentos ultraprocesados con el estado nutricional de niños de 6 a 12 años

Background: The prevalence of childhood excess weight has been increasing each year, which is related to various factors, including the consumption of ultra-processed foods. The objective was to determine the relationship between parents' knowledge about nutritional information labeling (nutritional labeling and front labeling) and the consumption of ultra-processed foods with the nutritional status of schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years. Methods: A quantitative, observational and cross-sectional study was carried out in a total sample of 255 parents and schoolchildren. Two questionnaires were applied to determine parents' knowledge of nutritional labeling and a frequency of consumption of ultra-processed foods questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were made to the schoolchildren. Results: Of the total number of parents who participated, 65.10% had a low level of knowledge of nutritional information labeling and 80% had a poor level of knowledge of front labeling. Regarding schoolchildren, 35.29% had a high consumption of ultra-processed foods, in the BMI it was found that 60.78% were overweight; Regarding PAB, 39.61% had a high or very high cardio-metabolic risk. In addition, a significant relationship was found between knowledge of nutritional information labeling and PAB (p<0.05), and a statistical significance (p<0.01) was also found between BMI and PAB. Conclusions: There is a significant relationship between parents' knowledge of nutritional labeling and the consumption of ultra-processed foods on the nutritional status of schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years.