NUTRIÇÃO E PREVENÇÃO DA OBESIDADE INFANTIL: UMA REVISÃO ABRANGENTE DA LITERATURA

Childhood obesity is a global public health problem due to its high epidemic levels. Many overweight children have easy access to sugary foods and pasta, and consume little vegetables and fruits, resulting in an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. In order to explore this topic, the general objective of this study is to review the literature on nutritional interventions for preventing childhood obesity. The methodology corresponds to a narrative literature review, where 16 scientific publications were selected for analysis from the PubMed, Scielo, PubMed and Bireme databases. The evidence indicates that childhood obesity is caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, socioeconomic and behavioral factors, constituting a multifactorial cause. This contributes to a sedentary lifestyle, chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. It is concluded that nutritional interventions are essential to prevent pediatric obesity and include healthy eating habits associated with physical activity. The role of schools, families and educational programs in this process is also highlighted.