The psychopedagogue and general director of Kitchen Academy, Rosa M.ª Nieves Cuesta, has advocated for the implementation of cooking laboratories in educational centers so that minors can deepen their understanding of healthy eating through practice.
"Nutritional education is in schools, from preschool to secondary, with the food pyramid on the board, but it is something static," Cuesta has indicated, who sees it as essential for students to understand, through direct experience, concepts such as what carbohydrates are and what their function is.
According to Cuesta, this practical approach would allow for "democratizing" students' access to knowledge about food and favoring its transfer to the home environment. "It is very good that there are laws telling us what children should eat, but it is important that they understand what they are eating to then bring it home. Let’s turn children into prescribers in their homes," she emphasized during the day "Towards a new model of eating habits in childhood: the school environment," organized by the Spanish Association of Yogurt and Dairy Desserts Manufacturers (AEFY).
For this reason, she insisted that schools should incorporate these culinary laboratories. "They need to move to a true experiential learning. It is necessary for children to be creators of their own food and their own meals," she pointed out.
In this same line, the scientific coordinator of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation, Rosa Casas, has defended the need to teach students to identify foods, know their origin, and learn to handle and cook them safely. "They should know their origin, that is, that roasted chicken does not come from a machine that goes around," she pointed out.
The challenge of obesity and overweight in childhood
Casas has emphasized that one of the major current challenges is childhood obesity and has reminded that, according to the ALADINO report, children aged 6 to 9 years present a high risk of excess weight, reaching 36.1 percent. "Children who present greater obesity come from economically more vulnerable families and show a high consumption of sugary drinks," she warned.
Likewise, she lamented the progressive abandonment of the patterns of the Mediterranean diet and has defended the promotion among minors of healthy, safe, sustainable, and quality food, ensuring equity.
He detailed that the daily diet of children should include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and extra virgin olive oil. Regarding proteins, he has recommended alternating plant-based ones, such as legumes, with animal-based ones.
On the other hand, he has highlighted the role of dairy within the food pyramid and has specified that the recommended guideline is between three and four servings a day. "They are very important for children's health, for their cognitive development, and for bone health," he indicated. In this context, he emphasized the relevance of yogurt and cheese as fermented foods that promote the balance of the microbiota and can help reduce the risk of inflammatory processes associated with conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
Finally, the secretary of the One Health Platform, Hermann Schwarz, has questioned the impact of advertising unhealthy products aimed at children and has urged to strengthen the dissemination of healthier alternatives. "We need to put a lot of emphasis, because what comes into our children's eyes is, in the end, what they are going to consume or choose," he concluded.