Comportamento alimentar de crianças de uma escola privada no município de Pelotas, RS

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that individual differences in several eating behavior dimensions may be associated to the development of excessive weight in children. It is estimated that 30% of Brazilian children between five to nine years old have excessive weight. The present study aimed to evaluate eating behaviors and nutritional status of children aged 6 to 10 from a private school in the city of Pelotas, southern Brazil, and to describe differences in eating behaviors by gender, age, and nutritional status. The Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) was administered to parents to assess their children’s eating behaviors. This questionnaire consists of 35 questions divided into eight subscales: Food responsiveness (FR), Enjoyment of food (EF), Desire to drink (DD), Emotional overeating (EOE), Emotional undereating (EUE), Satiety responsiveness (SR), Slowness in eating (SE) e Fussiness (FF). Height and weight measurements were taken. Age-adjusted body mass index (BMI) z-scores were calculated and children were categorized according to their nutritional status as underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese, and severely obese. A total of 335 children were evaluated. The mean age was 87.9 months (SD 10.4 months), nearly half (50.7%) of them was classified as excessive weight (26% were overweight, 15% obese, and 9.7% severely obese) and the other half (49.3%) was classified as normal weight. No child was underweight. Excessive weight children showed higher scores on CEBQ subscales associated with “food approach” (FR, EF, DD, EOE, p<0.001) and lower scores on two “food avoidance” subscales (SR and SE, p<0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively) compared to normal weight children. Only the EUE and FF subscales showed no significant differences among BMI z-scores (p = 0.254 and p = 0.637, respectively). No significant gender differences in eating behaviors were found, except in the DD subscale that showed higher scores among boys than girls (2.80 ± 1.11 vs. 2.47 ± 1.07 respectively, p = 0.005). Also, there were no significant age differences in eating behaviors, except in the SE subscale that showed lower scores as age increased (p = 0.002). Excessive weight was the main nutritional condition found in this sample and significant behavioral differences were seen between excessive weight and normal weight children.