Food (in) Security and Nutritional Dietary Quality In Brazil

Abstract

Objective Verify association between the perception of food insecurity and the diet quality of the Brazilian population, applying The Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale and the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index Revised. Methods Cross-sectional study using data from the Householder Budget Survey collected in 2017/18 with two 24-hour recalls. A multinomial regression model was used with Odds Ratio and a 95% confidence interval, with the final model being the insertion of variables according to the theoretical model of hierarchy adopted. Results A total of 57,920 households were analyzed, and of these, 39.22% lived with some degree of Food Insecurity. There was a significant difference between female heads of the household, mixed race and black race, households with adults and children and living in rural regions as the three levels of AI [Food insecure] (p=<0.001), with a greater chance of food insecurity in these households. The average Brazilian Healthy Eating Index Revised for the 46,152 individuals was 54.23 points for those who were not food insecure, and 54.11 points for those who experienced severe food insecurity. Conclusion It is concluded that there is an association between the perception of food insecurity and the nutritional quality of the diet of the Brazilian population, which can lead to malnutrition and obesity.