The debate about the need to introduce nutrition training in schools has been on the table for years. It reopens from time to time, especially when some personality from the world of gastronomy publicly reminds us that there is an urgent need for more and better education on nutrition from childhood, a measure that allows us to care for the health of people and the planet at the same time. One of the last to demand the need to introduce nutrition training in schools was chef Carme Ruscalleda, who in her investiture speech as an Honoris Causa doctor from the University of Barcelona (UB) demanded “the introduction of a Nutrition subject, with the aim of training citizens from a young age in the benefits of a healthy diet.
Shortly after, within the framework of a series of presentations on cooking and technology that took place last February within the framework of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), it was one of the three chefs of the restaurant Mejor, Eduard Xatruch, who presented expressed the need “for better training in nutrition, with the aim that children can understand from a young age what the benefits of having a healthy and sustainable diet are, both for them and for the environment.”
These are just some examples of the numerous gastronomy and nutrition professionals who have long been demanding that administrations provide better training in nutrition in schools, from kindergarten to secondary school. Also others, such as the chef of the El Bohío restaurant and presenter of Masterchef, Pepe Rodríguez, or Alma Palau, president of the General Council of Official Associations of Dietitians-Nutritionists of Spain, have spoken along the same lines.
It is worth asking, in this sense, if the introduction of a subject, as Ruscalleda claimed, is the best option to promote healthy eating from childhood. According to the Spanish Confederation of Parents of Students (CEAPA), “it is urgent to teach students to eat properly, since now they practically do not know what they are eating because no one explains it to them,” says its president María Capellán, who points out However, “not as a subject, but transversally.” For Capellán, “introducing a subject and adding more to the curriculum does not seem like a good idea, especially considering that nutrition can be studied in different subjects throughout academic life.” For CEAPA, it is essential to go further in some small steps that have been taken when promoting good nutrition, such as healthy breakfasts that were implemented in children and primary schools in many communities. In any case, for Capellán “there is no point in taking measures to improve nutrition training if advertising is not regulated, which does so much harm, something we have been fighting for for years as members of the National League for Healthy Eating.” .
For his part, the dean of the Official College of Dietitians-Nutritionists of the Region of Murcia, Luis Hidalgo, maintains that although it would be great news to be able to incorporate an exclusive subject dedicated to nutrition in schools, it seems, unfortunately, a utopia. in times of cuts. “It is true that there are numerous concepts that can be developed around nutrition in a specific subject, ranging from topics of food and the environment to others related, for example, to biochemistry, biology and other sciences. But it is also true that can be addressed without problems from other subjects and that in addition many activities can be carried out during school hours aimed at promoting nutrition education,” explains Hidalgo.
The dietitian-nutritionist Pilar Esquer agrees with him, a member of the Collective Catering Specialization Group of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a health consultant with extensive experience in school canteens. “It is likely that shoehorning in a subject would be counterproductive, but it would be possible to distribute this knowledge throughout school life.” Esquer insists, in this sense, that “the right to good nutrition is equal to children, so it is urgent to promote that all students are in a position to understand a label, to know why it is convenient to eat fruit daily or why choosing certain foods and not others can improve the health of the planet. Furthermore, even if only the economic part were addressed, improving nutrition training ends up lowering public health expenses, so that everyone can benefit. win.”
For this, to guarantee real equality of opportunities in terms of food, there would only be one solution: the implementation of a universal and free dining service for all students. This has been claimed for years by different organizations, including the Associacions Federades de Famílies d’Alumnes de Catalunya (AFFaC). Its president Belén Tascón recalls that “it is urgent to eradicate the idea that the school cafeteria is a service that is provided to students when parents cannot take charge of that midday time, since cafeteria time should be educational time. It is necessary to change our perspective, to understand that the right to food and education are not separate and cannot be isolated, and that the dining room is not a service provided by the administration, but rather a place where one learns everything necessary to have a healthy diet throughout life.”
Like Esquer, Tascón insists that guaranteeing equal opportunities should be reason enough to dedicate all the necessary resources to implementing this measure, but remembers that, in any case, “the return that a good diet ends up having is much higher.” than its cost.”
From aFFaC they also point out that “the dining room should be universal not only in preschool and primary school, but throughout the entire educational cycle, also for secondary school students.” In this sense, its president recalls that adolescents are often exposed to unhealthy eating in their own educational centers. “On the one hand, many families that receive scholarships for the dining hall run out of them at age 12, when the student starts high school, as if suddenly the family that has problems feeding their child stopped having them. It is a very serious fault on the part of the system. Furthermore, many secondary schools do not have canteens, but rather canteens with ultra-processed foods or machines. Taking into account that the established schedules do not take into account the circadian rhythms of adolescents, who start very early, are asleep until 10 a.m. and do not eat until 3 p.m., a type of offer that is not healthy is being encouraged,” he explains. Tascón, who concludes that “conciliation is not making a school cafeteria service available to families, but rather making it universal.”
Finally, Hidalgo recalls that although it is essential to improve training in schools, it is also important to act on two other fronts to guarantee the correct promotion of health from childhood: with families and with teachers. “In the Region of Murcia, a proposal was presented to the Ministry of Education to provide training on these three fronts in all educational centers. With the change of government we have not had any news again,” explains the nutritionist. Hidalgo also regrets that in the end “it is of no use to carry out specific actions if we do not work transversally in all areas to improve nutrition and this is impossible when many families do not have financial availability when it comes to making a balanced purchase”
