Ingestão dietética em trabalhadores de alimentação coletiva de restaurantes universitários

Abstract

Modifications in the food pattern have influenced the quality of the individuals' diet, not allowing the achievement of nutritional recommendations. The analysis of dietary intake allows the identification of different aspects of food consumption, recognizing whether the diet of individuals or specific groups, such as workers, is adequate and may indicate possible health problems.The aim of the present study was to analyze the adequacy of energy intake, nutrients and the contribution of ultraprocessed foods in the diet of the 137 workers of collective meals at a university restaurants (RU) in Rio de Janeiro. This is a cross-sectional study with collective meal workers, of both sexes, who were working in two public RU in Rio de Janeiro, aged over 18 years. A questionnaire was used to evaluate data on socioeconomic status, work status and lifestyle. The weight deviation was evaluated by the Body Mass Index and the waist circumference (WC) was measured. The dietary intake was evaluated by two 24-hour recall and nutrient adequacy was based on the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI). The foods consumed were classified into four groups: in natura or minimally processed, cooking ingredients, processed and ultraprocessed, based on the NOVA classification. The Multiple Source Method program was used to estimate the habitual intake of nutrients. For statistical analysis, we used the relative and absolute frequency, Fisher's Exact Test and Chi-Square Test. The sample consisted of the majority of women in the age group from 31 to 50 years old, with higher education, separated, family income less than two minimum wages, maidens, black and white, and did not consume alcoholic beverages. Regarding weight deviation between the sexes, most of the women were obese and the men were eutrophic and pre-obese. The WC was adequate for the majority of men, and 68.3% of the women had WC above the reference value. The consumption of dietary components presented a lower percentage of adequacy for calcium and dietary fibers in both sexes, and sodium for men. The average energy consumption was 2180kcal, of which 52.75% came from in natura or minimally processed foods, 24.77% from ultra-processed foods, 12.78% from cooking ingredients and 9.70% from processed foods. Micronutrients and dietary fiber presented greater contribution in the minimally processed groups than in the others. The results show that, despite the inadequacy of micronutrients, the ingestion of collective meals workers presented a predominance of in natura or minimally processed foods. However, it is necessary to reduce the consumption of ultraprocessed foods for the promotion of healthy eating.