[Food consumption and nutritional adequacy in Brazilian children: a systematic review].
OBJECTIVE
To perform a review of studies of food consumption and nutritional adaptation in Brazilian infants pointing the main findings and limitations of these studies.


METHODS
The articles were selected from Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (Lilacs) (Latin-American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Science Direct in Portuguese and in English. The descriptors were: "food consumption", "nutritional requirements", "infant nutrition" and "child". The articles selected were read by two evaluators that decided upon their inclusion. The following were excluded: studies about children with pathologies; studies that approached only food practices or those adaptation of the food groups or the food offert; and studies that did not utilize the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI).


RESULTS
Were selected 16 studies published between 2003 and 2013. In the evaluation of the energy consumption, four studies presented energetic consumption above the individual necessities. The prevalence of micronutrients inadequacy ranged from 0.4% to 65% for iron, from 20% to 59.5% for vitamin A, from 20% to 99.4% for zinc, from 12.6% to 48.9% for calcium and from 9.6% 96.6% for vitamin C.


CONCLUSIONS
The food consumption of Brazilian infants is characterized by high frequencies of inadequacy of micronutrients consumption, mainly iron, vitamin A and zinc. These inadequacies do not exist only as deficiencies, but also as excesses, as noted for energetic consumption.
Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, MG, Brasil.
Carolina Abreu de
CA
Carvalho
Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, MG, Brasil.
Poliana Cristina de Almeida
PC
Fonsêca
Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, MG, Brasil.
Silvia Eloiza
SE
Priore
Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, MG, Brasil.
Sylvia do Carmo Castro
Sdo C
Franceschini
Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, MG, Brasil. Electronic address: julianafnovaes@yahoo.com.br.
Juliana Farias de
JF
Novaes
D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D004435:Eating; D006801:Humans; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D009752:Nutritional Status
Child nutrition; Consumo alimentar; Food consumption; Infant nutrition; Necessidades nutricionais; Nutritional requirements; Nutrição da criança; Nutrição do lactente