Qualitative analysis of the diet of a probabilistic sample of schoolchildren from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, using the Previous Day Food Questionnaire

Abstract

A qualitative evaluation of the diet of a probabilistic sample of 7-10 year old schoolchildren (n = 1,232) from Florianópolis (southern Brazil) was carried out by analyzing compliance with recommendations from the Brazilian Food Guidelines. The strengths and limitations of the Previous Day Food Questionnaire (PDFQ) are also presented. Frequencies of intake were defined as how many times per day the food group was reported on the PDFQ. The percentages of schoolchildren who met the minimum recommendations and who ate foods that were not recommended in the guidelines were compared for boys versus girls, private versus public school and by family income level. Although most of the children complied with the guidelines regarding consumption of meat/fish, dry beans, sweets, and eating three meals and two snacks, only 6.5% of the children met the recommendations for cereals, and 15% for fruit and vegetables. The PDFQ was confirmed as a practical and cost-effective method for the evaluation of compliance with health promotion targets.

Consumption of fruits and vegetables associated with other risk behaviors among adolescents in Northeast Brazil

“…Investigations on the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Brazil have shown that only 15% of students in the city of Florianópolis (SC),17 6.5% in the city of Caruaru (PE),18 5.3% in the city of Pelotas (RS)19 and 2.7% in the state of Santa Catarina20 consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. In Pernambuco,21 one out of three adolescents does not consume or consumes fruits and vegetables at least once per day and 62.9% of them are daily exposed to excessive consumption of soft drinks.…”

Sodium content on processed foods for snacks

“…Criteria for inclusion of processed foods in the study We selected processed foods that, based on a review of the literature (11)(12)(13)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) , met the following criteria: (i) they were present in the diets of Brazilian children and adolescents according to studies and/or official documents that assessed dietary intake in these age groups; and (ii) they were characterized as snacks or snack ingredients.…”

“…In addition, a search was done on official Brazilian government agency websites to research official documents reporting the foods consumed by children and adolescents. We selected references whose results included lists of foods consumed by Brazilian children and adolescents, totalling eight studies and two official documents (11)(12)(13)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) .…”

“…The main foods contributing to high Na intake in Brazil and worldwide are pizza, processed meats, processed salty snacks, cream-filled cookies and soft drinks (6)(7)(8)(9)(10) . It is worth noting that these foods are also consumed by children and adolescents (11)(12)(13) . High Na intake beginning in childhood is associated with a consequent increase in blood pressure and can lead to elevated blood pressure into adulthood (5,14,15) .…”

Prevalência de baixo nível de atividade física em crianças pré-escolares.

“…The instrument containing 38 closed questions was constructed by adapting the questionnaire proposed by the team responsible for the project "Study of Childhood Obesity in Florianópolis" 18 . The adjustments made included the review of question wording, which went from a self-report format to face-to-face interview, and the inclusion of a section related to the physical activity measurement of the instrument proposed by Burdette et al 19 .…”