Consumo dos grupos alimentares em crianças usuárias da rede pública de saúde do município de aracaju, sergipe

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the consumption of food groups among children attending the public health system of Aracaju, in Sergipe, Northeast Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 359 children aged 6 to 35 months attending five Basic Health Units. Food intake was determined by 24-hour recall, and the reported foods consumed by the children were converted into portions based on the eight food groups from the Food Pyramid. Inadequacies were analyzed according to the recommendations of the Brazilian food guides. Dietary intake of children with the following age ranges were compared: 6 to 11, 12 to 23 and 24 to 35 months. Statistical analysis applied Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests, considering 5% as the significance level. Results: Among the 359 studied children, insufficient consumption of vegetables, fruits and dairy products, and high intake of sugar and sweets were observed. When comparing consumption between the different age groups, children aged 6 to 11 months presented lower consumption of fruits, meat and vegetables, and those aged 24 to 35 months had high percentage of intake of cereals, sugar and sweets, and oil and fat. Conclusions: The dietary intake of children showed inadequacies in food groups of fruit, vegetables, dairy, and sugar and sweets, as well as significant differences between age-groups. Thus, it is important to highlight the need for nutritional education respecting age specificities, in order to contribute to medium and long-term prevention of nutritional problems.