Attitude and practice about consumption of fruits and vegetables among adolescents in social vulnerability

• Autor(a) principal: Teo, Carla Rosane Paz Arruda
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Taglietti, Roberta Lamonatto, Baptista, Francieli, Meneghini, Vanessa Maria
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Scientia Medica (Porto Alegre. Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/scientiamedica/article/view/17232
• topic: FOOD CONSUMPTION; FRUIT; FOOD HABITS; ADOLESCENT NUTRITION; VEGETABLES; CONSUMO DE ALIMENTOS; FRUTAS; HÁBITOS ALIMENTARES; NUTRIÇÃO DO ADOLESCENTE; VERDURAS; Nutrição no curso da vida; nutrição do adolescente; nutrição coletiva

AIMS: To assess dietary behavior to fruit and vegetable intake of adolescents in social vulnerability. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with adolescents assisted by two social projects selected by convenience sampling in Chapeco, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. A 24-hour dietary recall was applied to analyze the consumption of fruits and vegetables, and a specific algorithm to investigate perception about the quality of consumption and the stages of change in eating attitude. Data were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences v.17.0, using descriptive and inferential statistics, with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: All the 120 adolescents assisted by the selected social projects, 59 boys and 61 girls, mean age 12.9±1.92 years, participated in the study. Average consumption (servings/day) was 2.14±1.79 for fruits and 0.67±0.68 for vegetables. Girls consumed more vegetables (p=0.047); 43.3% of teens thought they have healthy intake of fruit, but only 46.2% of these had adequate intake; 50.9% said to have healthy vegetable consumption, while only 3.3% of these had adequate intake. Those who thought to have healthy intake, consumed more fruit (p=0.001). On the stage of change, most girls were in contemplation and decision, and most boys in pre-contemplation and action (p=0.014). The consumption of fruits showed a significant positive correlation (rs=0.302, p=0.001) with the stages of change, being higher in more advanced stages. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of fruits and vegetables was lower than recommendations, situation exacerbated by distorted perception about quality of consumption and by social vulnerability. Subjective aspects of feeding behavior revealed the predominance of adolescents with inadequate intake of these foods that do not consider the possibility of changing food attitude.