Abstract
Background
The assessment of child food intake is essential for health promotion measures.
Objective
To evaluate markers of food consumption in children under 5 years of age assisted at the Family Health Strategy and verify their association with social context.
Method
The study was conducted in the municipalities of the state of Paraíba, Brazil, considered as priority for actions aimed to prevent childhood obesity, with a probabilistic and representative sample composed of 909 children (893 studied).
Results
The following prevalence rates were observed: exclusive and complementary breastfeeding (40.4 and 56.8%, respectively), food diversity (18.2%), fruit consumption (74.9%), consumption of vegetables (61.2%), and consumption of ultra-processed foods by children aged <2 and 2-5 years (51.1 and 25.8%, respectively). The following associations between social context and markers of food intake were found: socioeconomic status - interruption of breastfeeding and fruit consumption; social support - exclusive breastfeeding and interruption of breastfeeding and fruit consumption; social assistance - interruption of breastfeeding, consumption of ultra-processed foods, food diversity, and consumption of main meals; food and nutrition security - food diversity and fruit consumption.
Conclusion
The use of markers of food consumption allowed the identification of inadequate food practices and factors associated with social context.
Keywords:
family health strategy; children; food consumption; nutrition surveillance