Feeding profile of children with excess body weight assisted in basic health centers of Campina Grande, Paraiba/Perfil alimentar de criancas com excesso de peso atendidas em unidades basicas de saude da familia em Campina Grande-PB

Childhood obesity is considered a serious health public problem with high rates in the world, by nutrition influence. The following study purposes are to evaluate nutritional profile of the children with excess body weight treated in the basic family health centre, in Campina Grande, Paraiba. This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted in a quantitative approach with 20 children with excess body weight. A semi-structured questionnaire has been used as an instrument of data collection, accomplished from April to May 2010. Data has been analyzed by the Epi Info 3.3.2 software among a sample of 50 percent male and 50 percent female. Concerning feeding habits, 65 percent of the children had eaten about 1-3 meals a day, moreover, 15-50 percent has not consumed fruit and vegetables, respectively. Thus, foods such as: meat ingestion, poultry, fish, milk derivates and beans has been mentioned as a daily habit for more than 50 percent of the children. Regarding lifestyle, 90 percent had not practiced any type of physical training, indeed only 35 percent performed leisure training which involved energy effort. Results demonstrate that poor dietary habits and childrens inactivity triggers the necessity to create strategic plans developed to encourage and support healthy feeding habits and physical activity adherence in order to prevent future complications. KEYWORDS: Obesity; feed habits; lifestyle. A obesidade infantil e um importante problema de saude publica que vem alcancando indices alarmantes em todo o mundo, tendo a nutricao relevante influencia neste contexto. O presente estudo se propos a avaliar o perfil alimentar das criancas com excesso de peso atendidas nas Unidades Basicas de Saude da Familia, em Campina Grande-PB. Trata-se de um estudo do tipo transversal descritivo, com abordagem quantitativa, realizado com 20 criancas acima do peso. Foi utilizado, como instrumento de coleta de dados, um questionario semi-estruturado. A coleta de dados foi realizada no periodo de abril a maio do ano de 2010. Os dados foram analisados no programa Epilnfo 3.3.2. Na amostra, detectou-se que 50% eram do sexo masculino e 50% do sexo feminino. Quanto aos habitos alimentares, verificou-se que 65% das criancas realizavam de 1-3 refeicoes, o consumo de frutas e verduras nao era realizado por 15% e 50%, respectivamente, a ingestao de alimentos como carnes, aves e peixes, produtos lacteos e feijao foi mencionada como um habito diario por mais de 50% das criancas. N