Assessment of the Nutritional and Food Consumption of Children in Preschool and School Stage of a Private School in the City of Sete Lagoas-MG.

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, Jéssica da silva Alves
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Faria, Natália Cristina de, Costa, Suzane Mota Marques
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista brasileira de obesidade, nutrição e emagrecimento
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbone.com.br/index.php/rbone/article/view/1853
• topic: Child Nutritional Assessment; Food Consumption; Preschoolers; Evaluación nutricional infantil; Consumo de comida; Preescolares; Valutazione nutriionale del bambino; Consumo di cibo; Bambini in età prescolare; Avaliação Nutricional Infantil; Consumo Alimentar; Pré-Escolares; Avaliação nutricional infantil; Consumo alimentar; Pré-escolares

Introduction: The nutritional transition shows an alarming increase of overweight children in the world. This change has been associated with an increase in the intake of ultra-processed foods and a decrease in the intake of natural foods. Objective: To assess the food consumption of school-age and pre-school children and their nutritional status. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study with descriptive analysis with a quantitative approach developed with 46 students (2 to 10 years old) from a private school in a city in Minas Gerais. A food consumption questionnaire was applied and weight and height collection for BMI were collected, in addition to the information about the caretaker. For statistical analysis, the t test was used, followed by the Newman Keyls multiple comparison factor. Results and discussion: In the sample, the prevalence of overweight children was 30.4%. In the assessment of food consumption, 95.0% of children had inadequate consumption of sweets, 4.5 times higher than recommended. Greater weight was related to lower consumption of fruits and vegetables and higher intake of sweets and treats. A lower level of education of the caretaker was also related to a higher consumption of sweets and treats. Conclusion: This study shows inadequate nutritional status in 34.8% of children and improper eating habits. The importance of carrying out nutritional education activities in schools is emphasized, since a poor diet may damage children's health and development.