ABSTRACT:
Objective:
To describe and analyze the trend in dietary patterns followed by the adult population aged 18 to 44 years living in Brazilian state capitals between 2007 and 2012.
Methods:
We identified dietary patterns using the principal component analysis (PCA). The analysis retained components with eigenvalues >1.0 and highlighted factor loadings (FLs) >|0.2|. After the identification of four patterns, they received standardized scores with zero mean. The mean scores were presented for each pattern according to gender, age group, schooling, and year of data collection. We estimated the temporal variation of the mean scores of the patterns by linear regression.
Results:
We identified four dietary patterns in the population: prudent, transition, western, and traditional. We found an increasing trend in the mean score of the patterns: prudent, western, and traditional and a reduced mean score in the transition pattern. Individuals with better education showed greater adherence to the prudent pattern. Less-educated individuals presented higher adherence to the western and traditional patterns.
Conclusion:
Public policies targeting the population with lower schooling and men are necessary due to their greater adherence to unhealthy dietary patterns.
Keywords:
Feeding behavior; Surveillance; Adult
Thumbnail
Prudent: positive factor loading (FL+) for weekly and daily consumption of vegetables, raw vegetables, cooked vegetables, and fruits; Transition: FL+ for beans, red meat, fat, and soft drinks or processed juices and negative factor loading (FL-) for chicken; Western: FL+ for chicken, fat, and soft drinks or processed juices and FL- for fruits, red meat, and milk; Traditional: FL+ for beans, chicken, and milk.