A total of 96 schools in the district of Faro and 36 from Beja participate, as of today, in the 12th edition of the largest health education initiative in Portugal, “Heróis da Fruta”, which starts in 3.649 classes from 1.430 educational establishments in all districts and regions of the country , including Azores and Madeira.
Lisbon is the district with the highest number of registered schools (287), followed by the district of Porto (217), Setúbal (132), Braga (108), Faro (93), Leiria (80), Santarém (74), Aveiro (72), Coimbra (62), Viseu (47), Viana do Castelo (42), Beja (36) and Évora (36), Azores (28) , Castelo Branco (24), Portalegre (22) and Madeira (22), Vila Real (20), Guarda (15) and Bragança (13).
«Increasing the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables in schools» is the main objective of this project launched in 2011 by the Portuguese Association Against Childhood Obesity (APCOI) which this school year is implemented in 216 of the 308 Portuguese municipalities (70,1%).
In the coming weeks, students in the registered classes will be encouraged to improve their eating habits through the "Fruit Heroes" method, which makes educational materials available free of charge to schools starring a group of model characters who gain "superpowers" when they eat "superfoods". » combining non-formal education techniques: storytelling and gamification.
In the last decade, more than half a million students have already improved their daily eating habits by participating in the Heróis da Fruta project, with results scientifically proven by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Health (ISAMB) of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL ). After 40 weeks, that percentage increases to 5%.
The data also indicate that schools that repeat the program in the following school year reached more than 90% of the class in just 2 weeks, including students who had not adopted this healthy eating routine in the first year.
Mário Silva, president of APCOI, states that «96% of the teachers participating in previous editions consider that it would be very beneficial for children's health if the Heróis da Fruta project were implemented in all Portuguese schools».
«In the previous school year, in addition to increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables, this project managed to reduce the intake of less healthy foods in school lunches by 52%», he added, stressing that this success «is only possible thanks to the involvement of all partners who support this initiative".
The 12th edition of the Heróis da Fruta school challenge is held with the solidary support of Aldi Supermarkets, Lusíadas Dental and Maçã de Alcobaça.
«And so that no interested school is left out of this edition, we have decided to extend the registration period on the website www.heroisdafruta.com until the 15th of January”.
The complete list of schools (by District and by Municipality) is available by clicking here.
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