ABSTRACT
Food education is an important element of moral, intellectual, physical, social, and aesthetic development and will become a focus for improving national literacy and caring for the healthy growth of the next generation. To evaluate the effect of food education on improving diet-related health literacy in elementary school students, a whole cohort of third-grade students from Xin County were selected for an eight-month food education program. The differences in diet-related health knowledge and behaviors were compared through questionnaires. The students’ nutrition knowledge increased significantly (P < 0.05), especially the knowledge about Chinese balance dietary pagoda increased from 13% to 61.3%. The related behaviors, especially the number of students who learned to choose food by reading nutrition labels, increased by 31%. Frequencies of food intake also changed for the better (P > 0.05). Therefore, food education is an effective way to improve the nutritional status of elementary school students in China.
