Marcadores de consumo alimentar de crianças de 2 a 6 anos de idade do município de Governador Valadares - MG

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the food consumption of children aged 2 to 6 years in the municipality of Governador Valadares, based on data available from SISVAN-Web. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted with children aged 2 to 6 years from Governador Valadares - MG, with public domain data from SISVAN-Web from October to December/2018. Data regarding anthropometric analysis were presented in frequencies absolute and relative. Food intake and age were analyzed using SPSS software, version 20. Chi-square test was used to assess the frequency of categorical variables according to gender. The level of significance was 5%. Results: Of the 771 children with nutritional status data, 71.47% (n=551) were eutrophic and 7.39% (n=57) were overweight. Of the 491 children with food intake data, 60.5% (n=297) had meals in front of the screens and another 90% had 4 meals a day. The most consumed foods were beans (93.3%; n=458), sweetened beverages (84.1%; n=413), fresh fruits (83.7%; n=411) and sweet cookies (81.9%; n=402). There were no significant differences in the pattern of food intake between the sexes (p> 0.05). Conclusions: It was identified the presence of healthy and unhealthy foods in the eating habits of these children and the high prevalence of children with meals in front of the screens. It is necessary to encourage children to improve their eating behavior so as to avoid the increase of overweight and obesity and its maintenance in adulthood.