Abstract

MONTICELLI, Fernanda Dias Batista; SOUZA, José Maria Pacheco de  and  SOUZA, Sonia Buongermino de. Adolescent students' consumption of fruit, greens and vegetables. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2013, vol.23, n.3, pp.331-337. ISSN 0104-1282.

INTRODUCTION: The intake of fruits, vegetables and greens is in accordance with the recommendations in a minority of the population, especially in adolescents, as it has been shown in literature. The importance to increase this food consumption regards to the prevention of non-transmissible chronic diseases. OBJECTIVE: was to estimate and describe the frequency of fruit/juice and vegetable intake, and assess the adequacy of this consumption based on the recommendations of the "Ten steps to healthy eating", in adolescents in Curitiba, Brazil. METHODS: The food intake frequency was categorized as adequate or inadequate. The relationship between the intake and the independent variables (socioeconomic) was verified by simple and multiple logistic regressions. RESULTS: The participants were 341 adolescents, most female and aged between 10 - 12 years. The most frequent maternal educational level was High School, most of them working outside home. Monthly family incomes up to 3 minimum wages were most frequent. Most adolescents had inadequate intake of fruits/juices and greens/ vegetables, with higher inadequacy for the latter. Only 3.5% of them had adequate intake of both groups of food. CONCLUSIONS: The intake of fruit/juice was not associated with any of the analyzed variables. It was found association of inadequate intake of greens/vegetables only for the age range of 14-19 years, which remained after multiple regression.

Keywords : adolescent nutrition; food intake; fruits; greens; vegetables; nutrition policy.

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