Conocimiento sobre el consumo de agua simple  en adultos de nivel socioeconómico bajo de la ciudad de Cuernavaca, México

Abstract

Objetivo. Describir los conocimientos cotidianos acerca del consumo de agua simple en adultos “pequeños bebedores” y “grandes bebedores” de agua simple. Material y métodos. Estudio cualitativo realizado entre abril y agosto de 2010 en México. Se conformaron ocho grupos focales con informantes clave adultos de nivel socioeconómico bajo; la mitad de los grupos se conformaron con hombres y la mitad con mujeres. El análisis de datos fue realizado mediante: a) codificación y categorización de acuerdo con literatura revisada acerca de hidratación, y b) mapeo conceptual, reconociendo proposiciones y afirmaciones hechas por los participantes. Resultados. Pequeños y grandes bebedores tienen conocimientos cotidianos similares sobre el agua simple; utilizan los mismos ejes epistemológicos para explicar la ingesta de agua simple en función de lo que “el cuerpo necesite”. Ambos grupos tienen la noción de que el agua simple y el refresco “pueden ser dañinos” si se beben en exceso. Conclusiones. El conocimiento cotidiano sobre el agua se relaciona con el refresco, bebida que sirve para comparación y como sustituto. Los conceptos sobre el agua y el refresco se construyen con base en la experiencia personal y en las nociones sobre el efecto de ambos en el cuerpo y en la mente. Estas representaciones se utilizan para valorar la ingesta de líquidos y pueden constituirse como barreras para el consumo de agua simple.

Plain water consumption is associated with lower intake of caloric beverage: cross-sectional study in Mexican adults with low socioeconomic status

“…Intake of sodas has been described not to depend directly on the hydration status, and its consumption by adults has been shown to be determined by social and hedonic causes such as consumption of alcoholic beverages, socialization with friends, family influences and consumption of fast food [ 41 ]. In Mexico, other elements, e.g., everyday knowledge and socialization practices have been described as additional determinants of soda consumption in adults with low SES [ 19 ]. Perhaps this explains in part why some interventions focused on reducing the consumption of regular soda through increased consumption of PW have failed to decrease their consumption [ 42 ].…”

“…In the same group, the total beverage intake was 1721 mL [ 3 ], an amount below that recommended by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of the U.S.: 3.0 L for adult men and 2.2 L for adult women [ 16 ]. Several barriers to PW consumption have been identified among the Mexican population, including the limited infrastructure for its availability, poor hygiene of the public water distribution network, increase in the price of bottled water in recent years, marketing that promotes and facilitates the sale of CB and everyday knowledge that discourages its consumption [ 3 , 17 - 19 ].…”

Design and Reproducibility of a Mini-Survey to Evaluate the Quality of Food Intake (Mini-ECCA) in a Mexican Population

“…Furthermore, 70% consume legumes three or more times per week (as in our study), and a high proportion of subjects frequently consume unhealthy foods (as in our sample) such as non-dairy sweetened beverages (85.3%); sweetened milk drinks (24.1%); fast food and Mexican snack foods (18.3%); snacks, sweets, and desserts (38%); processed meats (19.8%); and sweet cereals (45.6%) [ 47 ]. A high intake of sweetened beverages coupled with a low intake of water has already been found in other studies [ 49 , 50 , 51 ], as have low levels of fish intake [ 52 ], a high intake of processed foods [ 53 ], and a high frequency of eating outside the home [ 54 ]. With these data, it can be observed that our results are consistent with those described in other studies, and could be applicable in the general population, in spite of differences in educational level, nutritional status, and methods for assessing food intake.…”