Regular consumption of fruit and vegetables by the Judiciary’s public servers of the Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Abstract

Objective To estimate the prevalence and factors associated with the regular consumption of fruits and vegetables by the civil servants of the Minas Gerais State Judicial System. Methods This is a cross-sectional analytical study, with a representative sample (n=1.005) of the Minas Gerais State Judicial System’s civil servants. The outcome variable “regular fruit and vegetable consumption” refers to fruit and vegetable consumption on five or more days per week. The explanatory variables were divided into three blocks: (1) sociodemographic (gender, age, education, race/skin color; income); (2) health conditions and life habits (chronic diseases, absenteeism due to illness, consumption of alcoholic beverages, smoking, physical activity and nutritional status); and (3) work characteristics and psychosocial factors (weekly workload, position, overtime, use of the electronic Judicial Process, county, psychological demand and control). Hierarchical Poisson regression by blocks was used to analyze potential factors associated with the outcome. Results The prevalence of regular consumption of fruits and vegetables was 55.3%. Associations were found with female gender, income above 12 minimum wages, sufficient physical activity, use of Electronic Judicial Process, while there was a negative association with alcohol abuse. Conclusion Regular consumption of fruit and vegetable among civil servants in the Judiciary was positively associated with female gender, higher incomes and physical activity. The consumption of alcoholic beverages was negatively associated with the outcome. Educational actions and programs aimed at encouraging healthy lifestyle habits are recommended, in order to raise awareness and involve public servants at all stages of the process.