Nutrition-related habits and associated factors of Brazilian adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the nutrition-related habits (NRH) of Brazilian adolescents and evaluate the associations with risk factors.


METHODS
Cross-sectional school-based was carried out among high school adolescents aged 14-18 years (n = 1,759) from public and private schools from two cities. The NRH were investigated by the weekly consumption of vegetables, fruit, sweet food and fried food. Risk factors investigated were: city, sex, age, socioeconomic status and nutritional status. In statistics, Poisson regression was used with robust variance adjustment.


RESULTS
Data indicated low consumption of fruits and vegetables, 70.0 and 71.0%, respectively, and high consumption of sweets and fried food, 66.7 and 63%, respectively. Boys showed risk of inadequate intake of vegetables [prevalence ratios (PR) 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.16] and fruit (PR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.16). Furthermore, adolescents who live in Maringá had greater likelihood of consuming vegetables and fruit (20 and 25%, respectively). However, they presented risk of inadequate consumption of sweets (PR 1.19, 95% CI 1.11-1.28) for adolescents who live in Presidente Prudente.


CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that inadequate NRH show high prevalence among adolescents and indicate the need to employ educational strategies that promote the adoption of more healthy habits and behaviors.
de Moraes
Augusto César Ferreira
AC
Post-Graduate Program in Science, Children Institute, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Rua: Abadia dos Dourados, n° 307-7, Butantã, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. moraes82@yahoo.com.br
Fernandes
Rômulo Araújo
RA
Christofaro
Diego Giulliano Destro
DG
de Oliveira
Arli Ramos
AR
Nakashima
Alika Terumi Arasaki
AT
Reichert
Felipe Fossati
FF
Falcão
Mário Cícero
MC
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population