Análise de impacto de políticas de regulação da oferta de alimentos nas cantinas escolares brasileiras

Abstract

A portion of unhealthy food and low nutritional quality is a risk factor for the individual's health and is associated with the development of several preventable diseases that can generate economic and social costs, such as lower quality and life expectancy, lower insertion capacity, and opportunities in the labor market. This situation also generates costs for society due, for example, to the burden on the Unified Health System, compromising the formation of human capital and reducing labor productivity. Thus, food is a necessary element for the maintenance of vital functions of the individual, reflecting not only in the current well-being but also in the future, such as its participation in cognitive development and human capital formation in adults who had a nutrient-rich diet in childhood. Therefore, since children and adolescents have part of their time allocated to school activities, the quality of food they have access to in this environment can influence their decisions regarding choosing healthy foods. In this sense, the question is: does the regulation of the type of food offered in school canteens contribute to the healthy eating habits of students? Given this, the study's objective was to evaluate the impact of regulating the supply of healthy foods in school canteens on the health indicators of students, which includes the delimitation of nutritious foods for the students' diet. Data were obtained from the National School Health Survey for 2015, and the Propensity Score Matching method was used. The results showed that, on average, in a classification of very low, low, medium, high, and very high, the School Food Supply Index (IOAE) is classified in the states and DF as low, medium, and high.In contrast, the School Healthy Eating Index (IASE) was classified only as a medium. The impact analysis results showed that regulated states have better healthy eating indices for both school and student levels. The use of healthy eating promotion strategies targeting students and schools, such as the regulation of products offered in school canteens, is recommended to improve the IOAE and IASE.