OBJETIVO: Analisar o consumo alimentar, o ambiente socioeconômico, a freqüência de anemia ferropriva e o estado nutricional de pré-escolares. MÉTODOS: A população estudada constituiu-se de 89 crianças de 24 a 72 meses de idade, assistidas em creches municipais de Viçosa, MG. Foram avaliados: nível de hemoglobina, peso, estatura, presença de parasitose, consumo alimentar dos pré-escolares e o perfil biossocioeconômico de suas famílias. RESULTADOS: O estado nutricional do grupo foi considerado satisfatório, e a prevalência de anemia relativamente baixa (11,2%). Condições adequadas de saneamento, nível razoável de escolaridade dos pais, baixo número de filhos e ausência de parasitas envolvidos com a gênese da anemia podem justificar o perfil observado. Não foi observada associação da anemia ferropriva nem com desnutrição nem com parasitose. CONCLUSÃO: Apesar de alguns fatores biossocioeconômicos apresentarem-se favoráveis ao estado nutricional e à baixa prevalência de anemia, observa-se, entretanto, que a insuficiente renda per capita e a dieta deficiente poderão levar esse grupo de pré-escolares, no futuro, a um pior estado de saúde.

There was a positive association between "unhealthy" dietary patterns and cardiometabolic alterations in children and adolescents. Some unconfirmed associations may be related to the difficulty of assessing food consumption. Nevertheless, studies involving dietary patterns and their association with risk factors should be performed in children and adolescents, aiming at interventions and early changes in dietary habits considered to be inadequate.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a review of studies of food consumption and nutritional adaptation in Brazilian infants pointing the main findings and limitations of these studies. DATA SOURCE: The articles were selected from Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (Lilacs) (Latin-American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Science Direct in Portuguese and in English. The descriptors were: ''food consumption'', ''nutritional requirements'', ''infant nutrition'' and ''child''. The articles selected were read by two evaluators that decided upon their inclusion. The following were excluded: studies about children with pathologies; studies that approached only food practices or those adaptation of the food groups or the food offert; and studies that did not utilize the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). DATA SYNTHESIS: Were selected 16 studies published between 2003 and 2013. In the evaluation of the energy consumption, four studies presented energetic consumption above the individual necessities. The prevalence of micronutrients inadequacy ranged from 0.4% to 65% for iron, from 20% to 59.5% for vitamin A, from 20% to 99.4% for zinc, from 12.6% to 48.9% for calcium and from 9.6% 96.6% for vitamin C. CONCLUSIONS: The food consumption of Brazilian infants is characterized by high frequencies of inadequacy of micronutrients consumption, mainly iron, vitamin A and zinc. These inadequacies do not exist only as deficiencies, but also as excesses, as noted for energetic consumption.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of deficiency/ insufficiency of vitamin D in adolescents and its relationship to overweight and metabolic disorders. Design: Cross-sectional study. Nutritional status was assessed by BMI according to WHO recommendations. Dietary intake was evaluated using a 3 d dietary record. The biochemical evaluation comprised measurements of serum lipids, lipoproteins, glucose, insulin, calcidiol (25(OH)D) and parathyroid hormone. Insulin resistance was calculated using the homeostasis model assessment. Body composition and blood pressure were assessed. Setting: Fifteen schools (eight public and seven private) in the central city of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. Subjects: The analysis included a study population of 160 adolescents (seventyseven eutrophic and eighty-three overweight) aged 15 to 17 years. Results: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was observed in 1?25 and 70?6 % of adolescents, respectively. Serum 25(OH)D levels were statistically lower in adolescents with weight excess, abdominal obesity, hypercholesterolaemia, higher levels of parathyroid hormone, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia and hypertension (P , 0?05). Lower BMI and waist circumference were observed in the third (highest) tertile of vitamin D intake for all adolescents. The high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is primarily nutritional and reflects a low vitamin D intake. Conclusions: Our results support the negative association among serum 25(OH)D levels and vitamin D intake with non-skeletal outcomes in Brazilian adolescents. Vitamin D fortification of foods and/or the use of vitamin D supplements need to be considered to raise vitamin D intake in the adolescent population, even in a sunny country like Brazil.

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