Prevalência de inadequação de micronutrientes em idosos no Brasil, segundo arranjo domiciliar: Inquérito Nacional de Alimentação 2008-2009

Abstract

Population aging is a reality and the greater participation of the elderly in the population in general occurs associated to the increase in life expectancy, making the participation of the elderly over 75 years old occur even more significantly. It should be noted that, with the aging process, the elderly group has been expanding, encompassing individuals with very different realities, which makes it important for this group to be analyzed in a more specific way. In addition, the "older", because they are more likely to need more health care, leads us to think about the challenges imposed to meet the specifics of this group, especially in the long term. Studies have pointed to the relationship of nutritional conditions, especially with regard to food intake, survival conditions and health and life situation of the elderly. However, even with the increasing representativeness of this population, its characteristics are still somewhat unexplored, and the scarce population studies on this subject in the Brazilian elderly indicate the existence of nutritional inadequacy, which justifies the deepening of such questions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of inadequate intake of micronutrients by sex, age group and home arrangement. For this purpose, data from the National Food Survey for the population above the age of 60 were used, using food consumption data obtained through two non-consecutive 24-hour food recall, using the recommendations established by the DRI for analysis of nutritional intake. It can be observed that the nutrients with the highest proportion of inadequacy (vitamin E, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and vitamin A) are the same as those reported in the world, where the elderly women reached a prevalence of inadequacy in the order of 100% for vitamin E , for example. Among the nutrients with the highest prevalence of inadequacy, only women aged 60-64 years residing in households with elderly individuals had a mean intake above the vitamin A recommendation. The household arrangement was also shown to have an impact, with men residing in mixed households had lower prevalence of inadequacy when compared to the elderly in this same context. On the other hand, for the elderly, residing in households composed only of individuals aged 60 years or older, appeared to interfere positively with their food intake. It is concluded, therefore, that the age group and the home arrangement influence the nutritional intake and should not be disregarded when evaluating the elderly public