Objective: The aim of the current study was to identify and describe the meal and snack patterns (breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack) of public schoolchildren. Design: Cross-sectional study. Information on the previous day’s food intake was obtained through the Web-CAAFE (Food Intake and Physical Activity of Schoolchildren), an interactive questionnaire, which divides daily food consumption into three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and three snacks (mid-morning, mid-afternoon and evening). Each meal contains thirty-one food items and the schoolchildren clicked on the food items consumed in each meal. Factor analysis was used to identify meal and snack patterns. The descriptions of the dietary patterns (DP) were based on food items with factor loads ≥ 0·30 that were considered representative of each DP. Setting: Schoolchildren, Florianopolis, Brazil. Participants: Children (n 1074) aged 7–13 years. Results: Lunch was the most consumed meal (96·0 %), followed by dinner (86·4 %), breakfast (85·3 %) and mid-afternoon snack (81·7 %). Four DP were identified for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, dinner and evening snack, and three for mid-afternoon snack. Breakfast, lunch and dinner patterns included traditional Brazilian foods. DP consisting of fast foods and sugary beverages were also observed, mainly for the evening snack. Conclusions: The results of the current study provide important information regarding the meal and snack patterns of schoolchildren to guide the development of nutrition interventions in public health.

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RESUMO: Introdução: O questionário de Consumo Alimentar e Atividade Física de Escolares (Web-CAAFE) foi desenvolvido para o monitoramento da dieta e atividade física de escolares brasileiros. Este estudo buscou avaliar o efeito do dia da semana e do número de aplicações na reprodutibilidade do Web-CAAFE. Metodologia: Escolares do 2º ao 5º ano (n = 197) de Florianópolis preencheram o Web-CAAFE por duas vezes no mesmo dia, dos quais 113 o fizeram em três dias não consecutivos. Avaliou-se a reprodutibilidade por meio da correlação intraclasse (CCI) e da regressão logística, para avaliação dos fatores associados à pior reprodutibilidade. Resultados: Observaram-se piores resultados de reprodutibilidade para o preenchimento do consumo nos finais de semana em relação àqueles que responderam em dias da semana (odds ratio - OR = 2,93; p = 0,045) e melhores resultados em meninas em relação aos meninos (OR = 0,29; p < 0,001). O preenchimento do consumo realizado nos segundo e terceiro dias apresentou melhor reprodutibilidade que o realizado no primeiro. Esses resultados são relevantes para o planejamento de futuros estudos que utilizem instrumentos de consumo alimentar em crianças, em especial sobre avaliação de sua validade e reprodutibilidade. Conclusões: Os resultados sugerem que pelo menos dois dias de aplicação do Web-CAAFE fornecem resultados aceitáveis de reprodutibilidade, e que o preenchimento referente ao fim de semana pode reduzi-la.

Omission of breakfast starts at school age and can be explained as a reflection of the independent behaviour acquired in this phase of life. Breakfast has been investigated for its association with healthier diet quality, but few studies have investigated this relationship in schoolchildren aged 7 to 13 years. The objective of this study was to assess breakfast consumption in schoolchildren aged 7 to 13 years and to examine associations with dietary patterns (DPs). It was a cross‐sectional study carried out in 2017 with 1069 students in Florianopolis, southern Brazil. Previous‐day food consumption, physical activity and screen activities were self‐reported. Factor analysis was used to identify DPs. Associations between breakfast consumption and overall DPs were evaluated using multivariate linear regression. Breakfast consumption was reported by 85% of the children, with the highest proportion observed among students on the afternoon school shift. Five DPs were identified explaining 41% of the total variance in daily food consumption: Ultra‐processed, Mixed, Traditional Brazilian Lunch, Healthy + Sweets and Traditional Brazilian Breakfast. Breakfast consumption was directly associated with a Traditional Brazilian Breakfast DP (β = 0.335; 95% CI = 0.227, 0.442), a Mixed DP (β = 0.241; 95% CI = 0.160, 0.323), and a Healthy + Sweets DP (β = 0.160; 95% CI = 0.061, 0.260), and inversely associated with an Ultra‐processed DP (β = −0.116; 95% CI = −0.207, −0.026). Breakfast consumption was associated with overall DPs, suggesting the importance of eating this meal by schoolchildren. We emphasise the relevance of offering a healthy breakfast at public schools for students who do not take this meal at home, contributing to health promotion.