[Survey of nutrition knowledge and food practices by persons in charge of the nutrition of family groups].
A comprehensive survey was carried out to assess the nutrition knowledge and food practices of 115 selected households in the city of Rio das Pedras located in the state of São Paulo. Socioeconomic factors as education and age of the mother, occupation of the father, income and family size were considered as the independent variables. Food practice was considered as the food consumed during the 24 hours before the day of the interview. It was interpreted in accordance to an adequacy scale with 3 levels: good, regular and bad. About 53% of the sample was in the first level. The adequacy scale was compared with the theoretical nutrition knowledge of the housewife, such as the meaning of a balanced meal which 87.8% of the sample did not know how to define, but 47.8% of the sample knew how to substitute correctly 3 or more foods. Knowledge about the reasons for including the basic foods in the family meals was the weakest. Among the socioeconomic factors under study the family size appeared to be the one most consistently related to adequate performance in family feeding. The effect of income level, father's occupation and formal education of the mother were considerably less consistent and of smaller magnitude.
D001938:Brazil; D004032:Diet; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
Levantamento dos conhecimentos em nutricao e das práticas alimentares por pessoas responsáveis pela alimentação de grupos familiares.