Abstract

MACHADO, Rachel Helena Vieira et al. What do active male brazilian adolescents know about fruits and vegetables?. J. Hum. Growth Dev. [online]. 2016, vol.26, n.3, pp. 316-322. ISSN 0104-1282.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7322/jhgd.122814.

OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare data on nutritional awareness regarding FV among adolescents from five Brazilian regions, according to demographics, physical activity levels, screen time and BMI METHODS: Cross-sectional study with 1.190 males aged 10-12 in five Brazilian regions, enrolled in a football tournament, with parental consent. BMI, weekly physical activity and daily screen time in minutes, awareness of FV recommendations in daily servings and recognition of food groups, home region, and residents of the household were obtained through self-administered questionnaire, adapted from a previously validated tool. ANOVA, Spearman correlation and chi-squared tests were performed, with a significance level of 5% RESULTS: Analysis showed 29% of overweight and obesity, less than 2 hours of daily screen time (70%) and insufficient levels of weekly physical activity (mean 226 minutes). Most (95%) lived with parents and with siblings (73%). About 29% of the sample were aware of FV recommendations and 60% recognized food groups. Awareness was not associated with BMI (p = 0.95), home region (p = 0,88), physical activity (p = 0.21), screen time (p = 0.46) or housing characteristics (p = 0.33 CONCLUSIONS: Data found on awareness of food groups are consistent with national and international studies, suggesting patterns of poor awareness worldwide. To our knowledge, there are no other Brazilian reports of level of awareness on recommendations of FV in this age group. The importance of behavioral interventions is acknowledged for stimulating healthy habits, which renders the results useful for the development of educational activities for this age group in Brazil

Keywords : adolescents; fruits and vegetables; eating habits; awareness/knowledge; physical activity.

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