Alimentos ultraprocessados na dieta de crianças: introdução e fatores associados

Abstract

Proper nutrition in childhood, especially in the first thousand days of life, it constitutes an important measure to promote health, growth and optimal child development. Associated with this, this period is recognized by importance in the formation of children's eating habits. However, eating habits in childhood have not occurred as recommended and increasingly early there is the introduction of ultra-processed foods in children's diet. Therefore, aimed to describe the main recommendations on infant feeding and to investigate the age and the factors involved in the introduction of ultra-processed food in the diet of children registered in public early childhood education centers in a Brazilian state capital. From which the following variables were studied: nursery school level and age, per capita income and data about the age (in months) children are introduced to processed and ultra-processed food. Most children were male (53.5%) with a median age of 45 months. At the end of the first year of life all processed foods and ultraprocessados studied had already been introduced into the diet of children. The chi-squared test was used in the association studies. More than half of the studied children had already consumed sugar (89.4%), thickener agents (75.1%), petit-Suisse (78.7%), cookies (61.9%), prepackaged snacks (56.9%), candy/lollipop/chocolate (58.3%) and instant noodle (53.2%) in their first year of life. The low maternal education doubles the chances of early introduction of instant noodle (OR=1.95) and candy/lollipop/chocolate (OR=1.72). Still, exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months doubles the chances of early introduction to soda (OR=1.84), sausages (OR=1.79) and candy/lollipop/chocolate (OR=2.10). Maternal age and family income did not show any significant statistical association with the early food introduction, in the current study. The introduction of food occurred early in children's diets and factors such as low maternal education and lower exclusive breastfeeding duration influence this process.