Children’s Snacking Habits at Schools and Mother’s Nourishment Knowledge

Abstract

Background: Dental caries is closely related to the nutritional habits. Mother’s nutritional knowledge affects the nutritional habits and choices of the child. Mother is mostly responsible for child’s nourishment and represents the ideal for them. According to many studies, the most consumed foods at schools are chips, biscuit, pastry and soft drinks. Aim: This study aimed to determine the snack food most consumed by children at a primary school in Damascus, and to investigate the mother’s knowledge about the preferred food kinds for the children’s dental health, Also we aimed to determine the rate of students who consume homemade food at school. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on a primary public school children in Damascus. 396 students were randomly included, aged between 8 to 12 years. Information was obtained through a questionnaire filled by the mothers. Teacher’s notes were also taken in consideration. Results: Almost 60% of the children used to regularly consume homemade food at school, (35.79%) sometimes and (4.21%) never. The most consumed snack foods according to the mother’s answers were biscuit 64.74%, chips 33.68%, chocolates 23.16%, other food 13.68%, peanuts 8.95% and 1.58% of the mothers said they have no idea. According to the teacher’s observation the rates were; biscuit 42.85%, chips 39.28%, chocolate 21.41% and peanuts 10.71%. Children who did not consume any snack food at school comprised 6.32% of the study sample, 26.84% consumed it once a week, 22.63% twice a week, 15.79% three times a week, 14.21% four times a week and 8.42% five times a week. Most mothers (43.68%) considered peanuts as the healthiest snack food for teeth; 35.26% considered biscuit, 7.89% chips, 6.84% preferred chocolate and 16.32% couldn’t choose the preference of these foods. Conclusion: The most consumed snack food by the children of Damascus schools is biscuit, chips, chocolate and peanuts in this order. Peanuts are considered the healthiest food for the teeth according to mothers. Most of the students usually bring homemade food to the school in Damascus.