Consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados e fatores associados na cidade de Pelotas/RS

Abstract

Several changes, which occurred in Brazil in recent years, have promoted changes in the dietary pattern of the Brazilian population, contributing to the imbalance in the supply of nutrients and to the increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of consumption of ultra-processed foods in the adult population of the urban area of Pelotas/RS and the factors associated with this consumption. To evaluate the outcome, a questionnaire of healthy and unhealthy consumption markers was used. The consumption of at least one group of ultra-processed foods, according to the NOVA classification on five days or more of the week, was considered as habitual. Informations about sex, age, skin color, marital status, economic status, education, nutritional status, alcohol consumption and smoking were collected. Bivariate analysis using Poisson regression with robust variance was used to estimate the association between consumption of ultraprocessed foods and exposure variables. A total of 827 individuals were interviewed. The prevalence of habitual consumption of ultra-processed foods among adults in the urban area of the city of Pelotas/RS was 67.7%. This consumption is associated with lower age and education and black skin color. Evaluating food consumption using a classification that considers the nature, extent and degree of processing, contributes to the definition of preventive measures and more effective nutritional education actions, in order to improve the quality of the population's food and reduce the appearance, development and aggravation of chronic non-communicable diseases.