Universidade Feevale Estancia Velha, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate some family environmental aspects that affect the food consumption and nutritional status of children and adolescents.
Methods: A cross-sectional, analytical and observational study was carried out, with a quantitative approach, with parents of children and adolescents between 9 and 12 years old, of both sexes. The research instrument was an online questionnaire on the Google Forms®️ platform, answered by parents, with self-administered questions about identifying the guardian and child, general habits and children's food consumption.
Results: 67 parents participated in the study, 89.6% female, among the children 56.5% female, with an average age of 10 years, 65.7% were in eutrophy, 40.3% performed at least physical activity, 4 times a week, 71.6% reported sleeping between 7-8 hours per night and 44.8% reported spending between 3-4 hours a day in front of screens. As for those responsible, 74.6% were in eutrophy and 77, 6% of respondents performed physical activity more than twice a week. In relation to children's weekly food consumption, 41.8% consumed between 11-20 servings of milk/products, 37.3% consumed between 8-13 servings of meat and eggs and 49.3% consumed between 0-20 servings of fruit /vegetables. Of the 50 eutrophic parents, 42 have eutrophic children. Of the 17 overweight parents, 15 have overweight children. It is concluded that the nutritional status of parents and the physical activity routine influence the nutritional status of children and adolescents, despite spending many hours in front of screens.
Conclusions: Finally, the eating habits of eutrophic and overweight children are unbalanced, with low consumption of minimally processed foods and lacking nutrients, which in the future contributes to the risk of developing chronic diseases and obesity.
