Perfil de consumo alimentar na primeira infância de indivíduos pertencentes à coorte de nascimentos de 2004 - Pelotas/RS

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the eating profile of children in early childhood and to assess its variability according to demographic, socioeconomic and behavioral factors. Methods: 4,231 children participated in the study of perinatal birth cohort from Pelotas, southern Brazil, who were followed at 3, 12, 24, and 48 months. Information on children's food intake were collected through a list of foods consumed in last 24 hours before interviews (LF24) at 12, 24 and 48 months of age. Principal components analysis (PCA) was carried out in order to identify eating profiles for each age studied. Results: We identified five components in each follow-up. Four of them were equal in three follow-ups, which were called milks, base, beverage and snack. A component called adult appeared at 12 and 24 months and another, called treats, at 48 months. The greatest differences were found between the dietary profile and socioeconomic groups in all the trimmings. Milks was the profile that best explained the children s diet at 12 months. At 48 months, breast milk doesn t appear anymore and at this age milks (cow's milk and chocolate milk) shows an monotonic and increasing trend in relation to economic level, indicating that richest families tends to present great consumption of theses foods. The component sweets at 48 months of age was associated with greater consumption of sweets, chocolate and chips, which were negatively associated with socioeconomic status and maternal education. Child care outside home was a characteristic extremely important for differentiation of eating profiles, with aging. Conclusion: Our results showed that in times such early childhood, food profiles already associated with social (education, socioeconomic status and child care) and behavioral (duration of breastfeeding, bottle feeding and pacifier) characteristics.