Food consumption and nutritional profile of children seen in public health services of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Monteiro CAVALCANTE, Ana Augusta
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Araújo TINÔCO, Adelson Luiz, Minardi Mitre COTTA, Rosângela, Lanes RIBEIRO, Rita de Cássia, dos Santos PEREIRA, Conceição Angelina, Castro FRANCESCHINI, Sylvia do Carmo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Nutrição
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/nutricao/article/view/9767
• topic: anthropometry; child; food consumption; nutritional status; antropometria; criança; consumo de alimentos; estado nutricional

ObjectiveTo assess the food consumption and the nutritional status of 174 children, ages between 12 and 35 monthsseen in the public health services of the municipality of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. MethodsTwo questionnaires were applied to collect the dietary data (24-hour recall and food frequency questionnaire).The nutritional status was determined by using anthropometric indices of weight/age, weight/stature and stature/age, and associated with food consumption. The Student’s “t” test was used for comparing means, thechi-square test to verify associations between variables and the Odds Ratio to determine the risk factorsinvolved in the occurrence of nutritional deficiencies (p<0.05). ResultsThe medium amount of energy consumed exceeded the recommendation for both genders (p<0.0001). Theusual intake of energy and nutrients was statistically significant and higher for boys than for girls (p<0.0001)exception being made for vitamin C. Inadequacy prevalence was observed for the vitamins A and C (96.6%and 36.8%) and the minerals iron and zinc (13.2% and 99.4%). Malnutrition prevalence was found forweight/age (13.2%), weight/stature (13.8%) and stature/age (4.0%). Positive association was found betweennutritional deficiencies and food consumption inadequacy. ConclusionThe results showed that inadequate food consumption contributes to deficiencies in the nutritional status ofthe preschool group. Further and continued studies to evaluate the food consumption of preschool childrenare recommended, including research into the feeding practices in that age group and in the overall population.