Food consumption among healthy and overweight adolescents

Abstract

Objective: to know the food intake of eutrophic and overweight adolescents. Methods: casecontrol study that analyzed the food intake and habits of adolescents with normal weight and overweight, matched for age and sex, using a food frequency questionnaire and food diaries for 3 days, compared with the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population and analyzed by the software Virtual Nutri. Results: Mean body mass index (BMI) and percent body fat were 29.5 and 49.4 for the overweight group and 21.0% and 29.1% for the normal group, respectively (p < 0.01). Among normal individuals the average daily intake of calories was 1915.5 while overweight adolescents consumed 1761.8 calories. Most adolescents ate the three main meals: breakfast (86%), lunch (98,9%) and dinner (96.8%). For eutrophic teenagers the average percentage of energy consumed was 56.7% for carbohydrates, 154% for proteins and 27.9% for lipids, while the overweight group consumed 52.7%, 17.1% and 30.2%, respectively. Conclusions: the study showed that both groups of adolescents consume the same types and similar amounts of foods, except when considering the group of cereals, roots and tubers whose consumption was higher among eutrophic adolescents (p < 0.01).