XXXIII. CONSUMO DE GOLOSINAS DE LA POBLACIÓN ESTUDIANTIL DE EDUCACIÓN MEDIA

Abstract

In El Salvador, six of every hundred children are overweight, 31.8% of women and 19.2%
of men are overweight (Ministerio de Salud El Salvador, 2017). There are several influential
factors in person being overweight, including: family eating habits and access to healthy
food. Efforts on the part of the Government seek to improve this situation, implementing the
Regulations for healthy school meals, which decreased the number of products available to
students. The objective of the study was to know the tastes and preferences of middle school
students and the incidence of purchase, providing information for new healthy products that
are in accordance with the regulations and the tastes of the students.
For this research, instruments were developed for providers and students, the sample was
selected based on criteria, including that the school has its own cafeteria infrastructure,
students from kindergarten to ninth grade, higher enrollment.
The results show that purposes, soft drinks and mango are preferred when buying. 50% of
the surveyed students shop at school meals once a day, while 26% shop at least twice a day.
The results of this research are of relevance for school meals owners and entrepreneurs who
are looking for new options for healthy products since the results are specific in terms of the
products preferred by students.