Insegurança Alimentar e Nutricional e sua associação com comportamentos de risco para Doenças Crônicas Não Transmissíveis em adolescentes de Juiz de Fora - MG

Abstract

Violations of the Human Right to Adequate Food result in Food and Nutrition Insecurity, which is manifested not only by food deprivation, but also by the loss of food quality, generating important consequences for people's health. Adolescence can be considered a stage of life vulnerable to Food and Nutrition Insecurity, as nutritional inadequacies in this stage can compromise the adequate growth and development of individuals. Generally, this phase marks the beginning of the adoption of risk behaviors for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) such as the abusive use of tobacco and alcohol, physical inactivity and inappropriate eating habits. Few studies address the relationships between exposure to Food and Nutrition Insecurity and risk behaviors for NCDs in adolescence. This study aimed to investigate the association between Food and Nutrition Insecurity and risk behaviors for NCDs among adolescents from public schools in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study with adolescents aged 14 to 18 years, of both sexes, from elementary and high school in public schools in the city. To investigate the Food and Nutrition Insecurity, the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) was used. Through a face-to-face interview, data such as gender, skin color/race, mother's education, occupation of the household and economic class were collected. This was classified by the Brazilian Economic Classification Criteria of the Brazilian Association of Research Companies. Data referring to risk behaviors for NCDs included experimenting with alcoholic beverages and cigarettes and their consumption in the last 30 days; regular exercise in the last 12 months; time of physical activity in one usual week by the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ); consumption of breakfast, lunch and dinner, consumption of ultra-processed foods in snack bars and fast-food restaurants, soft drinks and other ultra-processed beverages, and ultra-processed foods with a salty and sweet taste. The STATA® software was used to process descriptive and bivariate analyzes of the variables of interest and the Poisson Regression with robust variance, assuming a 5% confidence level (p-value < 0.05). The 782 adolescents had a mean age of 16 years (± 1.1), 58,6% were female, 34,8% were in the 1st year of high school, 63,5% declared themselves non-white, 74,4% lived in their own home, 31,6% were in the middle economic class (B2) and 42,5% of the mothers had completed elementary school or incomplete high school. The prevalence of Food and Nutrition Insecurity was equal to 37%. Most participants were active (64,1%) and reported physical exercise in the last 12 months (55,5%), experimenting with alcoholic beverages (79,8%) and regular consumption of breakfast (79,8 %) and dinner (60,5%). Most reported non-regular consumption of ultra-processed foods in snack bars or fast food restaurants (95,8%) and soft drinks (83,4%). Food and Nutrition Insecurity, based on Poisson Regression with robust variance, was associated with physical inactivity in the 12 months prior to the interview, non-regular breakfast consumption, regular dinner consumption and regular consumption of ultra-processed beverages (except for soft drinks). The results obtained point to a new perspective regarding the relationship between health and Food and Nutrition Security and reinforce the need for a comprehensive look at adolescents, given that the implications of Food and Nutrition Insecurity and the adoption of risk behaviors for NCDs at this stage can cause harm for their current and future health, posing major challenges for health systems.