Associação das variáveis socieconômicas, laborais e de saúde relacionadas à insegurança alimentar em trabalhadores dos Restaurantes Populares do município do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Food insecurity is part of Brazilian reality, in spite of several governmental actions to reduce the problem. Food insecurity can occur at several levels: Firstly, the concern about the availability of food, as well as about the quantity of food; next, the reduction in quality and quantity of food among adults; and at least, at a higher level, the reduction of food occurring among children, even starvation, when there is no food at their home. It is a general right for all to have access to reliable and nutritive food. Hence, food and nutrition is a condition to the protection of health. This is a cross-sectional study of 273 workers at 7 restaurants located in the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Food insecurity was evaluated using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (Escala Brasileira de Insegurança Alimentar - EBIA), which classifies the population as food secure or food insecure . The analyses were developed through the application of the Qui- Square Test or the Fisher s Exact Test, when adequate. Logistic regression modeling was performed next, considering three variable groups: socioeconomic, labor, and health. All analyses were conducted in R statistical program. The prevalence of food insecurity was that of 53.7%. The majority of the population studied was male (57.9%), black or brown (81.7%), did nine school years (57.1%), were married (58.2%), with children (70.1%), were the owners of their houses (73.6%), were General Services Assistants or catering workers (54.6%), and as of the time spent traveling from their home to the work place, 67.6% spend more than 40 minutes. The variables: schooling (OR-2,39; 95% CI: 1,38 - 4,16), opinion about the lack of financial conditions to maintain a healthy diet (OR-2,24; 95% CI: 1,25 4,00), time working in kitchens <29 months (OR-2,72; 95% CI: 1,44 5,16), and opinion about the composition and regularity of food (OR-2,01; 95% CI: 1,12 3,57) were significantly associated to food insecurity. These workers, even though involved in an activity related to equipment destined to offer food of quality, have no perception of their guarantee to the access of food in a satisfactory manner, both quantitatively and qualitatively