Food intake and nutritional status of preschool from maroon communities of the state Alagoas, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Leite,Fernanda Maria de B.
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Ferreira,Haroldo da Silva, Bezerra,Myrtis Katille de A., Assunção,Monica Lopes de, Horta,Bernardo Lessa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Paulista de Pediatria (Ed. Português. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-05822013000400444
• topic: food consumption; nutritional status; child, preschool

OBJECTIVE: To assess the dietary intake and the nutritional status of children from Alagoas maroon communities. METHODS: Cross-sectional study involving 724 children (12-60 months) from 39 Alagoas maroon communities. The nutritional status was investigated by anthropometric, biochemical (hemoglobin) and food consumption indicators. RESULTS: The prevalence of anemia, stunting and obesity were, respectively, 48.0, 9.7 and 6.0%. The children had a monotonous eating pattern and a considerable prevalence of inadequate intake of zinc (17.0%), folate (18.1%), iron (20.2%) and vitamins A (29.7%) and C (34.3%). Compared to the other socioeconomic classes, the E class children had lower average consumption (p<0.05) for energy, carbohydrate, vitamins A and C, folate, iron, zinc and phosphorus. CONCLUSIONS: Anemia is a serious Public Health problem. The prevalence of chronic malnutrition and obesity were similar to those observed for the children in the State as a whole, where a nutritional transition process is occuring. There was a high prevalence of inadequate food intake risk for zinc, folate, iron and vitamins A and C, suggesting the need for nutritional education actions.