Influência dos fatores socioculturais, físicos, demográficos e econômicos do ambiente familiar no consumo alimentar de escolares

Abstract

The food intake of children can be influenced by several factors, especially by those of the home environment, identified as a strong predictor of this feature. Objective: To investigate the association between sociocultural, physical, demographic and economic factors of home environment and the food consumption of school children. Method: Cross-sectional study with school children of the municipal school of Belo Horizonte/MG and their mothers/guardians. Among children, investigated the dietary intake through qualitative Food Frequency Questionnaire and 24-hours Recall. The variables of the home environment (socioeconomic data, morbidity self-report, food consumption and availability and accessibility of fruit and soft drinks) were obtained from a structured questionnaire with mothers/guardians. In both pairs, investigated the Body Mass Index (weight/height2). Statistical analysis included partial correlation test and Spearman correlation and Poisson regression with robust variance at a significance level of 5%. Results: Were evaluated 322 pairs of children and their mothers/guardians. The school children, had a median of 9.4 (8.6- 11.9) age years, 56.7% were male, and 32.4% had overweight. The majority of their representatives (88.5%) were mothers, with a median of 36 (24-83) age years and 49.6% had overweight. The school had higher consumption of fruits, beans, milk, food the group of ultra-processed, calories, calcium, iron and zinc and less of vegetables and polyunsaturated fat that their mothers/guardians. With regard to dietary similarities, there were more significant correlations between children and their mothers/guardians to ultra-processed foods (soda, instant noodles, candies, artificial juice and filled cake) than for minimally processed (natural juice and milk). For nutrients, correlation was moderate to strong (r=0.314-0.724), and significant for all dietary components. Dietary agreements varied considerably according to the health and socioeconomic characteristics. As for the influence of the home environment, was identified as a favorable factor the higher prevalence of daily fruit consumption at school only to home accessibility of food (PR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.29-2.32). For the refrigerant, the factors associated with regular consumption of this drink were household availability (PR: 2.40; 95% CI: 1.50-3.83) and regular consumption by mothers/guardians (PR: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.03-3.07). Conclusion: There was dietary similarity between the children and their mothers/guardians, for all nutrients and some foods, especially ultra-processed. In addition, the physical aspect of home environment proved to be decisive for the consumption of fruit and soft drinks, denoting importance of family involvement in the design of interventions with children.