Feeding practices of low birth weight Brazilian infants and associated factors

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To characterize complementary feeding and to analyze the influence of individual and contextual factors on dietary practices of low birth weight infants. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 2,370 low birth weight infants aged 6 to 12 months included in the Breastfeeding Prevalence Survey in Brazilian Municipalities (2008), which covered the 26 state capitals, the Federal District and 37 municipalities. Dietary practices were assessed using two indicators: I) dietary diversity, characterized by the consumption of five food groups: meat, beans, vegetables, fruit and milk; II) consumption of ultra-processed foods, characterized by the ingestion of at least one of the following foods on the day prior to the survey: soda, or processed juice, or cookie, cracker and crisps. The covariates of interest were the socioeconomic characteristics of infants, mothers and health services. The contextual factor was the “municipal prevalence of child undernutrition.” The individualized effect of the study factors on outcomes was assessed by multilevel Poisson regression. RESULTS: Approximately 59% of infants consumed ultra-processed foods, while 29% had diverse feeding. Mothers living in municipalities with child undernutrition prevalence below 10%, with higher education and working outside the home were more likely to offer dietary diversity. Consumption of ultra-processed foods was higher among infants living in municipalities with child undernutrition prevalence below 10%, whose mothers were younger and multiparous. CONCLUSIONS: The low prevalence of diverse feeding combined with the high prevalence of ultra-processed food consumption characterizes the low quality of feeding of low birth weight Brazilian infants. Individual and contextual factors impact the feeding quality of this population, suggesting the need for effective strategies to increase the consumption of fresh and minimally processed foods and decrease the consumption of ultra-processed foods by this vulnerable population.

Cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the Healthy Eating Index adapted version for children aged 1–2 years

“…The mothers in our study who had the most years of schooling were those whose children scored the highest (>80 points). These results are consistent with findings from other studies on infant feeding conducted in Brazil, as well as with studies from other countries (42,52,(54)(55) .…”

“…These products should not be part of the diet of children under 2 years, since they are highly palatable, can cause dependence and interfere in the consumption of in natura and minimally processed foods; babies have low gastric capacity, creating conflicts between healthy foods and ultra-processed ones. The consumption of ultraprocessed foods also negatively affects the self-regulation mechanism of hunger and Accepted manuscript satiety, which can be extremely harmful and lead to hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, dental caries and cancer when consumed in excess (4,5,21,22,42) . Attaining proper nutrition in the early years of life is critical to infant growth and development; moreover, dietary habits acquired early in life tend to persist not only into childhood but also into adulthood (2,5) Although the consumption of ultra-processed foods was prevalent in the study, we must note that other items such as fruit and meat, followed by the item 'variety of the diet', contributed more to the variation in the total score of the instrument.…”

O uso da tecnologia da informação e comunicação para promoção da alimentação complementar saudável em tempos de COVID - 19

“…Em decorrência das mudanças nos hábitos alimentares da população brasileira nas últimas décadas, caracterizadas principalmente pela substituição de alimentos caseiros e in natura por alimentos processados e ultraprocessados, alguns produtos como cereais matinais, farinhas, papinhas industrializadas e alimentos prontos para o consumo passaram a ser introduzidos cada vez mais cedo na alimentação infantil (IBGE, 2015;BRASIL, 2019;GIESTA et al, 2019;ORTELAN, NERI, BENÍCIO, 2020). O impacto da introdução desses alimentos em fases iniciais do desenvolvimento, além de fatores de risco para desnutrição e obesidade, tem efeitos em longo prazo, expondo as crianças às doenças crônicas na vida adulta (BARKER, 2007;SILVEIRA et al, 2007;BORTOLINI et al, 2013;ALVARENGA et al, 2017).…”

“…As mudanças nos hábitos alimentares da população brasileira nas últimas décadas revelam um cenário marcado pela introdução alimentar precoce, baixo consumo de refeições apropriadas em consistência e textura e elevado consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados (AUP) nos primeiros dois anos de vida (IBGE, 2015;BRASIL, 2019;GIESTA, 2019;ORTELAN et al, 2020). Tal fato se concretiza entre o público infantil exemplificado na introdução precoce de cereais matinais, farinhas, papinhas industrializadas e alimentos prontos para o consumo (AUDI et al, 2003).…”

Breastfeeding, Introduction of Food and Use of Pacifier on the Stomatognathic System of Children with Mixed Dentition

“…The first years of life are of extreme importance for the creation and establishment of eating habits of health in the future 1,2 . Exclusive breastfeeding up to six months of age and introduction of proper food, at the right time, contributes to beneficial motor, physical and mental health 3,4 .…”