Eating habits and school performance in fifth to eighth grade Chilean schoolchildren

Introduction: Eating habits in school-age children have been associated with cognitive skills and academic performance. Aim: To determine the relationship between eating habits and academic performance in Chilean school-age children. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 733 school-age children. Eating habits were assessed by the frequency of consumption of food groups, mealtimes, cooking skills and if they liked to cook. Grades of math and language subjects were reported. Results: There was a low proportion of healthy consumption frequency (HCF). Girls had a higher HCF of bread (p<0.001), boys had a higher HCF of dairy (p= 0.016). By sex, academic performance in language was different in girls (p= 0.013). HCF of dairy was associated with academic performance in language (p= 0.017) and mathematics (p= 0.035). Eating breakfast was associated with academic performance in mathematics (p= 0.028) and language (p= 0.001). Not consuming cakes and sweet doughs (p= 0.016), French fries, hot dogs and sopaipillas (p= 0.025) was associated with academic performance in mathematics. 29.1% of children had cooking skills, 54.0% being girls (p= 0.006). Having cooking skills was significantly associated with 7 of the 12 food groups analyzed. Conclusion: Eating habits are associated to the academic performance of Chilean school-age children.