Learning about food labels about food and nutrients

the use of labeling in research education

Abstract

The function of labels is to guide consumers to understand food ingredients and promote healthy food choices. However, this does not mean that consumers use labels as a tool to choose which foods should be part of their diet. This investigative activity will address cellular biochemistry content - water and minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, and nucleic acids. The proposal will have a duration of 4 classes, and students will be divided into food groups, where after the exposure of images of unprocessed, processed and ultra-processed foods made by the teacher, the groups will create a label of the type of food designated for each group. Next, the teacher will challenge the students with a guiding question, and from this question they will develop hypotheses. The students will use real labels of foods that make up their diet to answer a questionnaire and compare the information on the real labels with the label they produced. A text will be produced reporting if after the research and activities done by the students, their hypotheses were right or not. Finally, there will be a round of conversation in which students can orally explain the difference between the label created by them and the real label. It is hoped that this proposal, based on the reading and analysis of food/beverage labels present in their diet, will alert and make students aware of the importance of having good eating habits, giving priority to unprocessed or minimally processed foods that contain nutrients necessary for the proper functioning of their bodies