App helps provide fruit to children.
Tool allows parents to create consumption goals that can be adapted to the family routine
App helps provide fruit to children.
Tool allows parents to create consumption goals that can be adapted to the family routine
The future of our children depends on what we offer them in their meals. However, data shows that this future may be threatened. According to the National Study of Infant Feeding and Nutrition (ENANI), prepared by universities and public institutions in the country and released in 2019, 88,8% of Brazilian children up to 5 years of age consume ultra-processed foods. These are foods with a higher degree of processing and which may contain more fat, salt, and sugar than unprocessed or minimally processed foods, according to the definition in the Brazilian Dietary Guidelines.
The result of this is also seen in statistical terms. According to the 2019 Childhood Obesity Atlas, published by the Ministry of Health, 14,3% of children aged 2 to 4 are overweight. The rate doubles when children aged 5 to 9 are taken into account, an age group in which 29,3% are overweight. This represents approximately 352.800 children with obesity and 200 with severe obesity. According to another study, released in 2024 by the World Obesity Federation, Brazil could have up to 50% of children and adolescents with overweight or obesity by 2035.
“Eating habits are formed in childhood. If we don’t work on them at the foundation, what will we reap later on?” asks nutritionist Samantha Dalbosco Lins Carvalho, who holds a PhD in health sciences from the School of Nursing (Fenf) at Unicamp. With the aim of changing this scenario, the researcher developed a mobile app that helps parents and guardians offer fruit to children aged 2 to 5. The resource, called Frutificar, was born from studies that identified the various factors that can determine adults’ behavior towards children. The doctoral research was supervised by Fenf professor Marilia Estevam Cornélio.
Obstacles to fruits
It was her familiarity with the challenges of promoting healthy eating among different groups that motivated Carvalho to create a tool capable of encouraging this change among children. The nutritionist says that she researched adolescent nutrition and worked with children suffering from conditions, such as kidney and metabolic diseases, that required dietary adjustments. “There is no point in only thinking about problems when they have already occurred if we do not work to prevent them,” says the nutritionist, justifying the option to intervene in the nutrition of healthy children and in early childhood.
Carvalho also recognized the need to work with parents and guardians, since it is through these adults that children have access to food, and this population also depends on incentives. According to a study published in 2021 in the journal Ciência e Saúde Coletiva , Brazilians consume an average of 42,7 grams of fruits and vegetables per day, far less than the 400 grams per day recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). "We perceived this general problem and directed the intervention towards fruit consumption," he states.
Before deciding that the intervention would take place through a mobile application, the researcher conducted interviews with parents and guardians of children using a Basic Health Unit (UBS) in Campinas to understand what factors interfere with how they deal with the nutrition of these minors. The procedures followed the methodology called the Behavior Change Wheel ( BCW), used to identify the motivations for behaviors and to implement changes. Carvalho explains that the main factors cited involved the ability to leave fruit available daily, knowledge about the quantity needed for a serving, economic and geographical conditions – which distance families from sources of fresh food – or even a lack of awareness about the need to consume them every day.
The Frutificar app allows users to set times when they want to receive notifications reminding them to offer fruit to children, such as during school snacks or dessert time. The system also provides tips and recipes to facilitate the process, as well as videos with useful information on the subject. As users record their completed fruit offering goals, the app provides positive feedback and also measures children's acceptance, allowing for adaptations to each family's reality. "For an intervention to be successful, it cannot be based solely on what the researcher considers important, but rather must stem from the population itself and what that group believes should be changed," explains the study's supervisor.
New partners
The research focused on outlining how the intervention would be structured and developing the app, which was supported by the Fund for Supporting Teaching, Research and Extension (Faepex) at Unicamp. The clinical trial of the tool’s effectiveness and the assessment of its usability will be part of another doctoral research project, also supervised by Cornélio. Because of this, the app is not yet available for download. “This was an ongoing process of development, testing and reformulation,” recalls the advisor. Carvalho comments that, even during this stage, the feedback was positive. “Many parents said that it was a resource that helps a lot, since it is common for parents to forget to include fruit consumption in their daily routine.”
The researchers are also seeking companies and public institutions interested in the tool and willing to make it available to the general public. A study similar to the one that resulted in Frutificar, also supervised by Cornélio, developed the Sal na Medida app, which monitors daily salt intake – the subject of a report in issue 683 of the Unicamp Journal . Today, the tool is part of the technology portfolio of the Unicamp Innovation Agency (Inova Unicamp) and is open to partnerships. “We are exploring new forms of partnership to implement these resources,” says the supervisor.