LAUSR

INTRODUCTION children's food habits have an influence on physical and mental health and should be monitored. OBJECTIVE the purpose of this study was to determinate the association between children's food habits (i.e., Mediterranean diet adherence), anthropometric parameters and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Chilean schoolchildren. MATERIAL AND METHODS girls (n = 282, 11.86 ± 0.82 years) and boys (n = 352, 12.02 ± 0.87 years) enrolled in public schools were included in this study (n = 634). Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WtHR), body fat (BF), nutritional level and HRQoL were evaluated. RESULTS the schoolchildren with high nutritional levels reported higher HRQoL (p = 0.018) and presented lower BMI, WC and WtHR (p < 0.001). Likewise, according to the following questions: Have your parent(s) treated you fairly? and Have you felt full of energy? The schoolchildren with high nutritional levels reported the major proportion in very and extremely answers (p < 0.001). The BMI was negatively correlated with HRQoL (r = -0.33, p < 0.05). Beside, children's food habits had significant correlation with HRQoL (r = 0.48, p = 0.002). The BMI (B = -0.41, 95% CI = -0.55, 0.93, p = 0.001) and children's food habits (B = -0.78, 95% CI = -0.09, -0.02, p = 0.002) reported associations with HRQoL. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the nutritional level (i.e., Mediterranean diet adherence) and BMI presented associations with HRQoL in Chilean schoolchildren; therefore, it is important to consider these results and develop different strategies in schoolchildren to improve their nutritional levels, as HRQoL represents a measure of happiness or satisfaction with life.