Objective: To assess time trends in the contribution of processed foods to food purchases made by Brazilian households and to explore the potential impact on the overall quality of the diet.

A new classification of foods based on the extent and purpose of their processing Uma nova classifi cação de alimentos baseada na extensão e propósito do seu processamento

Resumo

A adolescência é marcada por transformações e exposição a diversas situações e riscos para a saúde. O estudo atual estima a prevalência dos principais fatores de risco e proteção à saúde dos adolescentes entrevistados em 2009 na Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde do Escolar (PeNSE). A PeNSE, parceria do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) com o Ministério da Saúde, usou questionário autoaplicável em palmtop coletando informação de 60.973 estudantes em 1.453 escolas públicas privadas nas 27 capitais. RESULTADOS: consumo de alimentos em cinco dias ou mais na semana: 62,6% comem feijão, apenas 31,5% consomem frutas, 58,3% comem guloseimas e 37% tomam refrigerantes; 43,1% dos alunos são suficientemente ativos fisicamente e 79,5% gastam mais de duas horas diárias em frente à TV. Em relação a tabaco e drogas: 6,3% são fumantes atuais, 71,4% dos alunos disseram já ter experimentado alguma bebida alcoólica. O consumo atual de bebida alcoólica foi de 27% e as drogas ilícitas foram usadas alguma vez na vida em 8,7%. Esses dados geram evidências para orientar a implementação de políticas públicas e realizar ações para minimizar a exposição de fatores de risco dos adolescentes brasileiros.

Objective: To analyse the dietary intake of Brazilian adolescents and investigate its association with sociodemographic factors as well as health-risk and healthprotective behaviours. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: The study was based on data supplied by the National Survey of Schoolchildren's Health (2012) on sociodemographic factors, dietary intake and health-risk and health-protective behaviours of schoolchildren in Brazil. A nutritional scale was elaborated combining markers of healthy and unhealthy diets. Poisson regression analysis was applied to investigate the association between the sociodemographic factors and regular intake (≥5 times/week) of selected foods; linear regression analysis was applied to investigate the association of sociodemographic and behavioural factors with nutritional scale score. Subjects: A total of 109 104 adolescents attending the ninth year of education at 2842 schools in Brazil. Results: Fewer than 30 % of the adolescents consumed raw or cooked vegetables on a regular basis, whereas more than one-third reported regular intake of sweets, soft drinks and sweet biscuits. Adolescents from the southern area and the oldest ones were those most exposed to inadequate dietary intake. The nutritional scale average score was higher in the students attending public school and exhibited a positive correlation with protective behaviours, such as being physically active, having meals with parents and eating breakfast, and a negative correlation with risk behaviours such as eating while studying or watching television and having smoked, drunk alcohol or used other drugs in the previous 30 d. Conclusions:The results indicate an association between undesirable nutritional habits and other risk behaviours among Brazilian adolescents. Keywords Adolescent health School Food consumption Eating behaviour Risk factorsAlthough chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) are a matter of great public health concern worldwide, they affect developing countries more significantly (1) . In Brazil, NCD cause approximately 70 % of deaths and the prevalence of their main risk factors has shown an unfavourable tendency. These facts make it necessary to implement surveillance programmes to form the basis of timely and strategic interventions (2) . Inadequate dietary habits stand out among the risk factors common to NCD as a whole. Surveys on the types of food available in Brazilian households conducted in the past three decades have shown a steady increase of ultraprocessed foods and a significant reduction of natural or minimally processed foods and cooking ingredients in all socio-economic classes and geographical regions (3,4) . That tendency is a serious cause for concern because some features intrinsic to ultra-processed foods (high energy density, free sugar, sodium, total fat and saturated fat; low protein and fibre) are associated with excessive weight gain and increased risk for NCD (5)(6)(7) . Although changes in dietary habits are required in all age ranges, adolescence should be a focus ...