Consumo alimentar de adolescentes: estudo comparativo antes e após intervenção alimentar e nutricional em escola privada do município de Dourados-MS

Abstract

Introduction: The diet of adolescents is worrisome because it presents a high frequency of unhealthy foods, in addition to high prevalences of overweight. Intervention measures in schools have been recommended to raise awareness among adolescents about food choices. Objectives: To analyze and compare the food intake of schoolchildren through healthy and unhealthy markers, before and after intervention with food and nutritional education. Materials and Methods: Descriptive and comparative study before/after intervention in Food and Nutrition with adolescents from 6th to 9th grade of elementary school, from private school. Food practice was investigated in two moments (2018/2019), through a structured food frequency questionnaire in the last seven days, prior to the interview, to identify the mean (±SD, 95% CI) and frequency of desirable consumption of healthy (=5days/week) and unhealthy foods (<5 days/week) by sex. Results: Ninety-five students participated, 58.9% of them female. Regarding food practice, there was a reduction, considering the average of days per week, of meals in fast food restaurants, consumption of fried snacks and goodies, but only among boys (p<0.05). No significant results were observed for the frequency of food intake before and after intervention, when categorizing the desirable consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods (=or<5 days/week), as well as risk and health protection behaviors. Conclusion: The adolescents' food intake was predominantly characterized as unhealthy, both before and after intervention, according to markers evaluated, especially among girls.