The first “Heróis da Fruta” Conference, organised by the Portuguese Association Against Childhood Obesity (APCOI), will take place on 10 September at the Lisbon Metro Auditorium in Alto dos Moinhos, from 10am to 1pm, marking 15 years of the school-based initiative and will focus on the theme “15 Years Inspiring Healthier Schools”.

As reported by APCOI, the conference will bring together public health specialists, researchers and policymakers to examine the evidence accumulated through the programme and discuss how investment in childhood obesity prevention can be expanded across Portugal.

One of the main announcements will be a nationwide assessment of children’s eating habits in schools, produced by APCOI in collaboration with the Institute of Environmental Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (ISAMB/FMUL).

The results will include information for individual municipalities, giving local authorities a more detailed picture of children’s dietary patterns in their areas.

International recognition

This event comes shortly after research into the “Heróis da Fruta” method received international scientific recognition.

A study led by ISAMB/FMUL researchers and published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that the programme significantly increased children’s regular fruit consumption.

According to the research, almost 70 percent of children assessed were initially eating fewer than three portions of fruit a day. Following the intervention, the number meeting the recommended daily intake increased by 44.6 percent, while 52.7 percent of children who rarely ate fruit began consuming it regularly at school.

The initiative, launched in 2011, has now reached more than one million children across Portugal.

During the 2025/26 school year alone, more than 30,000 pupils from 1,538 pre-school and primary classes registered to take part, with the Faro district accounting for 107 classes and 2,231 pupils.

Socioeconomic inequalities

In May, the organisation worked with the Parish Council of Armação de Pêra on a volunteering initiative supporting the “Heróis da Fruta” programme, with volunteers helping prepare materials for more than 17,000 participating pupils nationwide.

The September conference will also examine socioeconomic inequalities in children’s fruit consumption, with researcher Raquel Martins presenting recently published research alongside a scientific poster recognised at an international conference.

Another key session will focus on a pilot project carried out in the Lisbon parish of Ajuda during the last school year. Developed with ISAMB/FMUL, the project tested an enhanced version of the “Heróis da Fruta” approach and found that its effectiveness could be increased with an additional investment of around €10 per child.

The findings will feed into a panel discussion examining the value of investing in health education, involving representatives from the Ajuda Parish Council, Novo Nordisk Portugal and Lisbon City Council, alongside Jo Jewell, global lead for the Cities for Better Health initiative.

Community intervention

Mário Silva, the President of APCOI, said the organisation now wants municipalities to play a central role in scaling the programme, arguing that local education, school food and health professionals can help implement evidence-based interventions in communities.

The conference will feature Maria João Gregório, director of the Directorate-General of Health’s National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating; José Silva Nunes, president of the Portuguese Society for the Study of Obesity; Spanish researcher Santi F. Gómez; FMUL professor José Camolas; and Glória Ferreira, Iberian director of BNP Paribas Cardif.

Participation in “Heróis da Fruta” is free and is open to pre-school and first-cycle classes in public and private establishments across mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions.