Elaboração de um questionário de frequência alimentar semiquantitativo voltado para crianças de 4 a 9 anos.

Abstract

Nutrient inadequacy interferes with the child's development and growth process and is a determining factor in the appearance of nutritional deficiencies or the appearance of various pathological manifestations that will affect adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, among others. In view of the large daily variation in diet and the rapid change in infant eating habits, the development of instruments capable of accurately measuring children's habitual diet presents an important methodological challenge. The food frequency questionnaire is one of the most used methods to measure food consumption in epidemiological studies. This instrument is a list of foods most frequently consumed or that form the dietary pattern of a given population, which records the usual frequency. consumption in a predetermined period. Given this, the present work has for purpose. Develop a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for children from 4 to 9 years old. The study was conducted with students regularly enrolled at Mirian Gomes Municipal School, located in the urban area of Jaçanã, Rio Grande do Norte (RN). The sample consisted of students of both sexes, who met certain inclusion and selection criteria. , considering those with at least 15% citation.The food diaries of a specific day of 67 participants were evaluated, thus obtaining a list of 110 food items, these foods are listed in Table 2 and correspond to 16 food items. Emphasizing the high consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods, especially rice with 80.6% consumption during lunch, milk that is an important source of protein was consumed by 49.3% of the sample during breakfast. foods rich in protein and carbohydrates were less mentioned as: meat 32.8%, milk rice 25.4%, cream cracker 34.3% and carioca beans 26, 9% Coffee consumed for breakfast totaled 62.7% of the sample. This type of instrument may be useful in conducting studies that identify foods that may pose a risk to the health of children. Verification and reliability of this inclusion instrument is still necessary, making other studies with students from the same age group and from public schools.