Algarve schools can now register for the new edition of the "Fruit Heroes" project, an initiative of the Portuguese Association Against Childhood Obesity (APCOI) that aims to promote healthy eating habits among children in pre-school and primary school. Registration is free and runs until October 31, 2026, and public and private educational establishments from across the country can participate, including kindergartens, school clusters, after-school care centers, extended day care centers, and school support activities.
The program, which takes place in the 2026/2027 school year, challenges participating classes for five weeks to promote daily consumption of fruit and vegetables, through playful-educational activities, music, and educational materials. The method was developed by a multidisciplinary team of nutritionists and educators, requiring only between five and 15 minutes per day for 25 working days, and is aligned with the guidelines of the World Health Organization, the Directorate-General for Health, and the Directorate-General for Education.
Since its launch in 2011, the project has already reached over one million students in Portugal. In the previous edition, 41,128 students participated, distributed across 2,034 classes from 1,170 schools. An independent study published in the scientific journal European Journal of Nutrition, developed by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, evaluated the impact of the program on children's eating habits.
The research findings showed that participation in the program was associated with a 44.6% increase in the number of students who began meeting the recommended daily doses of fruit and vegetables. Among children who consumed little or no fruit at school, 52.8% began eating it regularly. The study also identified a reduction in the consumption of industrial snacks and ultra-processed foods in school snacks in at least half of the participating students. For Mário Silva, president of APCOI, these results reinforce the importance of bringing the program to more schools to improve health and nutrition literacy in Portugal.
