OBJECTIVE: To assess the food consumption and the nutritional status of 174 children, ages between 12 and 35 months seen in the public health services of the municipality of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: Two questionnaires were applied to collect the dietary data (24-hour recall and food frequency questionnaire). The nutritional status was determined by using anthropometric indices of weight/age, weight/stature and stature/age, and associated with food consumption. The Student's "t" test was used for comparing means, the chi-square test to verify associations between variables and the Odds Ratio to determine the risk factors involved in the occurrence of nutritional deficiencies (p<0.05). RESULTS: The medium amount of energy consumed exceeded the recommendation for both genders (p<0.0001). The usual intake of energy and nutrients was statistically significant and higher for boys than for girls (p<0.0001) exception being made for vitamin C. Inadequacy prevalence was observed for the vitamins A and C (96.6% and 36.8%) and the minerals iron and zinc (13.2% and 99.4%). Malnutrition prevalence was found for weight/age (13.2%), weight/stature (13.8%) and stature/age (4.0%). Positive association was found between nutritional deficiencies and food consumption inadequacy. CONCLUSION: The results showed that inadequate food consumption contributes to deficiencies in the nutritional status of the preschool group. Further and continued studies to evaluate the food consumption of preschool children are recommended, including research into the feeding practices in that age group and in the overall population.
anthropometry; child; food consumption; nutritional status
