Contribution of ultra-processed food to the nutritional dietary profile of young children school feeding

RETONDARIO, Anabelle; ALVES, Márcia Aurelina de Oliveira; FERREIRA, Sila Mary Rodrigues

doi:10.1590/1678-9865202235e210106

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Sumário

ORIGINAL • Rev Nutr 35 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9865202235e210106 copy

Contribution of ultra-processed food to the nutritional dietary profile of young children school feeding

Contribuição de alimentos ultraprocessados para o perfil nutricional da alimentação escolar em creches

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective

To investigate the contribution of ultra-processed food to the nutritional dietary profile of school feeding in public child day-care centers.

Methods

Cross-sectional study carried out from June-November/2013. Samples from six daily meals were collected in twenty non-consecutive days. A total of 117 school meals (123 food items) were offered to children from 12-36 months of age. The served portions were determined by direct weighting. Physicochemical analyses were performed to establish the nutritional composition. School meals were classified according to the processing degree: (A) unprocessed/minimally processed/culinary preparations, (B) processed food, or (C) ultra-processed food. The contribution of each group to the quantity of energy, macronutrients and sodium was calculated. Student’s t test was applied for comparison between groups.

Results

Ultra-processed meals contributed to 45.8% of energy, 33.9% of lipids, 42.8% of proteins, 48.9% of carbohydrates, and 20.9% of sodium. All lunches and 90% of dinners were classified as unprocessed/minimally processed/culinary preparations. 39.0% of the meals were ultra-processed (mainly breakfast and snacks). Ultra-processed meals had a greater quantity of energy (p=0.026) and carbohydrates (p<0.001) per serving, while unprocessed/minimally processed/culinary preparations offered more sodium per serving (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Although most meals were classified as unprocessed/minimally processed/culinary preparations, ultra-processed food, which should be avoided at this stage of life, are offered daily, contributing with higher energy and carbohydrates offer per serving. The municipality need to improve the quality of the meals offered to children in these child day-care centers, observing the new Resolution nº 6/2020 that came into effect in 2021.

Keywords
Child day care centers; Food analysis; Food processing; School feeding; Ultra-processed foods

Day	Breakfast	Morning snack	Lunch	Tea	Afternoon snack	Dinner
01	Corn porridge, Bread^*	Banana	Rice and beans, ground beef with peas	–	Rice porridge	Noodle soup with potatoes
02	Corn porridge	Banana, Bread^* * There were offered industrialized and homemade breads. The last ones are distinguished by name.	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot and poultry	Fennel	Rice porridge	Chicken soup
03	Corn porridge	Handmade bread^* * There were offered industrialized and homemade breads. The last ones are distinguished by name.	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot and poultry	Fennel	Banana	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot and poultry
04	Rice porridge	Peeled apple	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot and poultry	Fennel	Multi-cereal pap	Ground corn soup with chicken
05	Corn porridge	Banana	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot, poultry, parsley potato, zucchini, chayote, beetroot	Fennel	Milk	Noodle soup with parsley potatoes, carrot and poultry
06	Corn porridge	Bread^* * There were offered industrialized and homemade breads. The last ones are distinguished by name. & margarine	Rice and beans, hard-boiled egg, potato, carrot, and ground beef	Mate	Sago	Noodle soup with potatoes and ground beef
07	Rice porridge	Handmade Carrot bread^* * There were offered industrialized and homemade breads. The last ones are distinguished by name. & margarine	Rice and beans, chayote, cauliflower and ground beef	Mate	Passion fruit juice	Noodle soup with ground beef
08	Milk flour porridge	Salty cracker	Rice, beans, and mince	Mate	Sweet-rice	Cooked corn meal with meat
09	Corn porridge	Banana	Rice, beans, potato, cauliflower and fried chicken	Mate	Chocolate cake with blackberry jam	Chicken soup with corn meal
10	Corn porridge	Banana	Rice with carrot, beans, mashed potatoes, and mince with sauce	Mate	Strawberry jelly	Cooked corn meal with meat
11	Rice porridge	–	Rice and beans, chayote and ground beef	Fennel	Cereals porridge, Cornstarch cookie	Noodle soup, potatoes, poultry
12	Rice porridge Bread^* * There were offered industrialized and homemade breads. The last ones are distinguished by name. & margarine	Melon	Rice and beans, chayote and ground beef	Fennel	Milk flour porridge	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot and poultry
13	Rice porridge	–	Rice and beans, chayote and beef	Mint	Corn porridge	Instant noodles with carrot
14	Rice porridge	Strawberry yogurt	Rice, beans, potato, tomato, onion, chicken	Chamomile	Rice porridge	Instant noodles with carrot
15	Rice porridge	Banana	Rice, beans, noodles, cabbage and chicken	Fennel	Milk flour porridge	Noodle soup with potatoes, chayote and ground beef
16	Rice and corn mixed porridge	Cream cracker	Rice, beans, cooked corn meal and chicken	Mate	Cornstarch cookie	Chicken soup
17	Rice and corn mixed porridge	Family farming biscuit, Grape juice	Rice and beans, ground beef and crumb’s egg	Fennel	Grape juice	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot, chayote and ground beef
18	Cereals porridge	Banana	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot, chayote, ground beef and bean soup	Chamomile and mint	Family farming biscuit, chocolate milk	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot, chayote, ground beef and bean soup
19	Cereals porridge	Banana	Rice and beans, stewed chicken, corn crumbs with carrot and cabbage	Chamomile	Grape jelly	Noodle soup with poultry
20	Cereals porridge	Cornstarch cookie	Rice and beans, ground corn and meat	Mate	Strawberry porridge	Noodle soup with potatoes, carrot, chayote and ground beef

Meal description	Frequency
Meal description	n	%	n/day
Group A (Unprocessed foods, minimally processed foods and culinary preparations)
Handmade meals (rice and beans, vegetables, chicken, beef, and soup with or without meat)	38	30.9	1.90
Teas (fennel, mate, chamomile, mint, and chamomile with mint)	19	15.5	0.95
Fruits (banana, peeled apple and watermelon)	11	09.0	0.55
Handmade desserts (sago, chocolate cake with blackberry jam, and sweet rice)	3	02.4	0.15
Whole grape juice	2	01.6	0.10
Reconstituted milk formula	1	00.8	0.05
Handmade bread	1	00.8	0.05
Total Group A	75	61.0	3.75
Group C (Ultra-processed foods)
Porridges (powdered milk, water, starches and refined sugar)	29	23.6	1.45
Industrialised biscuits	7	05.7	0.35
Industrialised bread with or without margarine	5	04.1	0.25
Jelly	2	01.6	0.10
Instant noodle soup	2	01.6	0.10
Reconstituted concentrated juice	1	00.8	0.05
Industrialised strawberry yogurt	1	00.8	0.05
Industrialised chocolate milk	1	00.8	0.05
Total Group C	48	39.0	2.40
Total	123	100	6.15

School feeding characteristics	Overview	Group A	Group C	p-value
School feeding characteristics	Mean±SD	Mean±SD	Mean±SD	p-value
Portion size (g)	127.96±71.20	123.65±63.92	134.69±81.54	0.404^* * student’s t-test with equal variances between Groups A and C;
Energy (kcal/ serving)	96.23±66.27	85.60±68.49	112.84±59.59	0.026^* * student’s t-test with equal variances between Groups A and C;
Carbohydrates (g/serving)	16.64±10.65	13.94±8.99	20.87±11.72	<0.001^† † student’s t-test with unequal variances between Groups A and C. Group A: unprocessed foods, minimally processed foods, or culinary preparations; Group C: ultra-processed foods; SD: Standard Deviation.
Proteins (g/serving)	3.92±3.75	3.67±4.21	4.30±2.90	0.329^† † student’s t-test with unequal variances between Groups A and C. Group A: unprocessed foods, minimally processed foods, or culinary preparations; Group C: ultra-processed foods; SD: Standard Deviation.
Lipids (g/serving)	1.55±2.20	1.68±2.74	1.35±0.77	0.325^† † student’s t-test with unequal variances between Groups A and C. Group A: unprocessed foods, minimally processed foods, or culinary preparations; Group C: ultra-processed foods; SD: Standard Deviation.
Na (mg/serving)	205.22±247.13	266.26±282.54	109.85±132.69	<0.001^† † student’s t-test with unequal variances between Groups A and C. Group A: unprocessed foods, minimally processed foods, or culinary preparations; Group C: ultra-processed foods; SD: Standard Deviation.

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[1] Correspondence to: A RETONDARIO. E-mail: profe.anabelle@gmail.com.