Women's meal frequency and nutritional and health profiles

OBJECTIVE: To verify whether meal frequency is associated with the nutritional and health profiles of women attending a health-promoting service. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included users of an Academia da Cidade in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais from August 2009 to December 2011. The following were collected: socioeconomic, demographic, health profile, anthropometric, and dietary data. Meal frequency was given by the self-reported number of daily meals and considered appropriate when >5. Poisson regression with a robust variance was performed with a significance level of 5% (p<0.05). RESULTS: The sample consisted of 342 females with a mean age of 50.6±13.7 years and a per capita income of R$ 500.0 (85.0; 4,666.7); 72.5% were adults. They had a median of 4 (1.0; 7.0) meals per day and 52.0% had fewer than five meals a day. Inadequate meal frequency was associated with high blood pressure (PR: 0.71; 95%CI: 0.56, 0.90; p=0.005) and constipation (PR: 0.77; 95%CI: 0.61, 0.98; p=0.040); inappropriate intakes of water (PR: 0.74; 95%CI: 0.59, 0.93; p=0.009), sugar (PR: 0.79; 95%CI: 0.63, 0.98; p=0,036), fruits (PR: 0.79; 95%CI: 0.63, 0.98; p=0.036), and non-starchy vegetables (PR: 0.74; 95%CI: 0.59, 0.94; p=0.012); and preference for whole milk (PR: 0.72; 95%CI: 0.57, 0.89; p=0.003). CONCLUSION: Inadequate daily meal frequency was associated with worse nutritional and health profiles, highlighting the importance of pertinent nutrition intervention.

研究目的：验证进餐频率与参与健康促进服务的女性的营养与健康状况是否存在关联。
研究方法：本横断面研究纳入了2009年8月至2011年12月期间，米纳斯吉拉斯州贝洛奥里藏特市城市学院（Academia da Cidade）的服务使用者。研究收集了以下资料：社会经济状况、人口学特征、健康状况、人体测量学指标以及膳食数据。进餐频率通过自我报告的每日进餐次数确定，当每日进餐次数＞5次时视为合理。采用稳健方差泊松回归进行统计分析，检验水准设定为5%（p＜0.05）。
研究结果：本研究共纳入342名女性受试者，平均年龄为50.6±13.7岁，人均收入为500.0巴西雷亚尔（R$ 500.0；四分位数间距：85.0；4666.7），其中72.5%为成年人群。受试者每日进餐次数的中位数为4次（四分位数间距：1.0；7.0），52.0%的受试者每日进餐次数不足5次。进餐频率不合理与高血压（患病率比（Prevalence Ratio，PR）：0.71；95%置信区间（Confidence Interval，CI）：0.56, 0.90；p=0.005）、便秘（PR：0.77；95%CI：0.61, 0.98；p=0.040）、水分摄入不合理（PR：0.74；95%CI：0.59, 0.93；p=0.009）、糖摄入不合理（PR：0.79；95%CI：0.63, 0.98；p=0.036）、水果摄入不合理（PR：0.79；95%CI：0.63, 0.98；p=0.036）、非淀粉类蔬菜摄入不合理（PR：0.74；95%CI：0.59, 0.94；p=0.012）以及偏好全脂牛奶（PR：0.72；95%CI：0.57, 0.89；p=0.003）存在显著关联。
研究结论：每日进餐频率不合理与较差的营养及健康状况显著相关，凸显了针对性营养干预措施的重要性。