Factors associated with the consumption of ultra-processed food by Brazilian adolescents: National Survey of School Health, 2015

Abstract

Objective: To identify the prevalence and factors associated with the consumption of ultra-processed foods by Brazilian adolescents. Methods: The sample was representative of adolescents and participants in the cross-sectional population-based study National Survey of School Health, 2015 edition (PeNSE-2015). A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The variable weekly consumption of ultra-processed foods was considered, and consumption more than seven times a week was considered excessive. Descriptive and inferential analyses of demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral and environmental characteristics potentially associated with the outcome were performed. Poisson's multiple regression model was adjusted to control for confounding factors. Results: The prevalence of excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods among 16,324 adolescents in Brazil was 75.4%. Nine factors independently associated with this outcome were identified: age under 15 years (RR 1.08; p<0.001), daily sitting time greater than four hours (RR 1.13; p<0.001), eating while watching TV or studying more than four days a week (RR 1.09; p<0.001), daily TV time greater than three hours (RR 1.08; p<0.001), breakfast frequency less than four days a week (RR 1,03; p=0.001), having a cell phone (RR 1.12; p<0.001), absent maternal education (RR 0.88; p<0.001), being enrolled in a private school (RR 1.05; p=0.002) located in the urban area (RR 1.13; p=0.002). Conclusions: The results express the multifactorial characteristic of excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods and suggest the need for the development and implementation of health policies to guide the consumption of these foods and the importance of adopting healthy behaviors for this population group in both school and home environments.

Dietary and Nutritional Profiles among Brazilian Adolescents

“…Certainly these practices explain the better dietary pattern of these dietary and nutritional profiles. It is noteworthy that another study identified less consumption of ultra-processed food products among adolescents from rural regions, children of mothers with less education, and worse socioeconomic conditions [ 32 ]. These issues should be further investigated in other studies for a better understanding of these contexts.…”

Multilevel factors appealing to junk food consumption among school children and adolescents: A systematic review

“…Food and nutrition knowledge (Feyzabadi et al, 2017;Subedi & Bhusal, 2021;Upreti et al, 2021) and self-efficacy (Feyzabadi et al, 2017) are revealed as significant determinants of JFC. Behavioral aspects include smoking, drinking, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, changing lifestyle, and eating habits (Bui et al, 2021;Li et al, 2020;Silva et al, 2021) are found to be significant determinants of JFC. Of the 22 studies, taste and pleasure of eating junk foods remain the most common intrapersonal level (microsystem) factors that appeal to JFC.…”

“…Junk food consumption (JFC) is increasing globally (Baraldi et al, 2018;Mandoura et al, 2017), and this trend is most alarming in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) (Baker & Friel, 2016;Saha et al, 2021). JFC is particularly common among school children and adolescents [SCA] (Gupta et al, 2018;Moradi Latreyi et al, 2020;Sahoo et al, 2015;Silva et al, 2021;Upreti et al, 2020). Junk foods are energy-dense foods with high sugar, fat, and salt but low or no nutrients such as protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals (Ashakiran & Deepthi, 2012;Datar & Nicosia, 2012;Kaushik et al, 2011).…”

Características associadas ao consumo de alimentos in natura ou minimamente processados e ultraprocessados por adolescentes em uma região metropolitana brasileira

“…A ingestão dos AUP tem aumentado ao longo dos anos [3][4][5][6] e, entre adolescentes brasileiros, tem sido associado a dependência administrativa da escola [10][11][12][13] ; à renda familiar 6,14,15 e o nível de educação dos pais 14 ; inatividade física 6,16 ; comportamento sedentário, especialmente em indivíduos com alto tempo de tela 13,16,17 ; culminando em excesso de peso 3,4,18 , síndrome metabólica 19 e alterações no perfil lipídico 20 e na pressão arterial 21 . Dados similares foram observados na literatura internacional 22,23 .…”

“…Apesar dessas evidências, ainda são escassos na literatura brasileira estudos que incluam adolescentes de 15 a 19 anos, de escolas públicas e privadas 6,[10][11][12][13]17 e utilize a classificação NOVA 8,9 , principalmente para a análise do consumo de alimentos in natura ou minimamente processados 17 . Dessa forma, o presente estudo teve o objetivo de analisar as características sociodemográficas e de estilo de vida associadas ao consumo de alimentos in natura ou minimamente processados e AUP de adolescentes da Região Metropolitana da Grande Vitória -Espírito Santo (RMGV-ES), Brasil.…”