Efeitos do ambiente alimentar e nutricional sobre o excesso de peso em crianças menores de 10 anos

• Ano de defesa: 2011
• Autor(a) principal: Cremm, Elena de Carvalho [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
• Palavras-chave em Português: Ambiente nutricional; Análise ecológica; Criança; Geoprocessamento; Obesidade; Estado nutricional
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/9416

Introduction: The prevalence of childhood overweight has been increasing throughout the world. Given the consequences of overweight to individuals and society, researchers have been trying to identify the economic, social, environmental and biological variables associated with overweight. It has been suggested that the environment has a important part in the etiology of overweight, in that relates to physical activity and food intake. Objectives: To analyze the relationship between the BMI of children under 10 years of age in the city of Santos and socio-economic and environmental factors. Methods: In a cross sectional, population based study, 531 children under 10 years living in the city of Santos were assessed. Socio-economic, physical activity and food intake data were collected at the individual level. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the influence of the individual level variables on overweight. To evaluate the nutrition environment, questionnaires adapted and validated for the Brazilian population were created. Food stores and food service places were assessed in the whole city and also in a 500m area around the children´s census tract. The individual and environmental data were analyzed in an ecological model in order to assess possible correlations. Results: Lower socio-economic status was associated with overweight in children at the individual level and was also associated with less access to healthy food and healthy establishments at the environment level. The presence of health promoting food stores was associated with lower BMI/age. Conclusion: The ecological analysis showed a negative association between the nutritional status and the nutrition environment. However, in order to assess the individual influence of the environment on the individual, more advanced statistical methods are necessary. The area and the population’s socio-economic status should be considered when planning interventions focused on the nutrition environment.