Food insecurity and overweight among children and adolescents

Abstract

Objective: To characterize low-income children and adolescents.

Material and Methods: 246 volunteers participated of the study completing a semi-structured questionnaire about characteristics of the place of residence and personal safety. Skin color was self-reported and the Food Insecurity (FI) were collected through the Brazilian Scale of Food Insecurity (BSFI). The assessment of nutritional status was performed by weight and height and subsequent calculation of BMI. Data analysis was performed using the chi-square test using SPSS® software and confi dence interval for proportions.

Results: The skin color were predominantly black (43.9%[43,60% - 44,20%]) and brown (41,0%[40,30% - 40,80%]). No differences were observed in the pattern of responses regarding the place of residence among subjects of different skin color types. More than 50% of participants reported being afraid of strangers, 69.9% ([57% to 80%]) were in the FI situation and 51.8% were overweight and had an average consumption of 3.57 servings of ultraprocessed products daily.

Conclusion: The volunteers were characterized as predominantly black and brown. Although they were mostly classified as eutrophic, a signifi cant portion was found to be overweight and, in all, the data indicate that it is a population that is found in FI and a high consumption of ultraprocessed products.