SOUSA, Thays Cristina de.
Abstract:
With physiological and psychological changes. Nutritional deficiencies end up being
commonplace due to a diet full of industrialized foods, harming development in several aspects.
The choice of food by the families of adolescents is influenced by the area where they live,
since it is easier for those who live in urban areas, close to large centers and shops, while those
who live in rural areas or in distant regions of the city's commerce, they are limited to buying
items in greater quantity and that have greater durability, excluding perishables such as
vegetables and fruits. At this stage of the cycle, it is common for there to be a deficiency of
minerals, and among them, calcium stands out, as it is one of the least consumed minerals due
to the low intake of food sources of it. Given the importance of calcium in adolescent bone
formation and the possible variables that influence the access and acquisition of foods that are
sources of this mineral, the present study aimed to investigate the consumption of dairy foods
that are sources of calcium among adolescent students from public schools, the in order to check
the intake of milk and calcium-source derivatives. The research was carried out in the city of
Belém-PB, located in the interior of Paraíba, in municipal and state public schools, in the urban
and rural areas. Data were collected using three questionnaires, a food frequency questionnaire,
a sociodemographic and socioeconomic questionnaire. The collected data were tabulated in the
Microsoft Excel program and tables were generated to help the comparison and construction of
the research results. When the socioeconomic and demographic questionnaire was applied, it
was possible to observe 66.1% of the sample lived in the urban area, and 33.9% in the rural
area, and more than 20% reported that both the father and the mother only concluded up to the
4th grade of the elementary school, 37.82% reported having an income of up to 1 minimum
wage. When analyzing the data referring to the questionnaire on consumption of milk and dairy
products, it was seen that there is a low consumption of all items present in it, with amounts of
dairy and dairy products being ingested below the recommendation, causing a possible deficit
of calcium in them. It is concluded that this result is due to the socioeconomic conditions of the
families, the low level of information about the importance of healthy eating due to low
schooling, and the implications associated with living in rural areas to purchase food.
