FEEDING AND DIABETES MELLITUS: PERCEPTION AND FOOD CONSUMPTION BY ELDERLY PEOPLE IN THE HINTERLANDS OF PERNAMBUCO

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of diabetes diet and identify factors that may interfere with the adherence to nutritional therapy and food choices of participants in a Community Center for the Elderly in Sairé, PE. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study, which evaluated 39 attendees of that center, from July to August 2014, with or without diabetes mellitus. Two questionnaires were applied to assess socioeconomic data, nutrition knowledge and cultural factors, and check the consumption of food with high and low glycemic index. Data was analyzed using the Assistat Program 7.0 Beta version. Results: The majority of the respondents have knowledge about types of foods that may influence the treatment of diabetes mellitus, as 51.2% (n=20) reported knowing some food that can reduce the risk for diabetes onset or assist in its treatment. Most of the participants reported having acquired such knowledge through the television 35% (n=7) and conversation with peers 35% (n=7). Evaluation of the food intake evidenced higher consumption of foods with high glycemic index. However, among diabetic patients, foods with low glycemic index are consumed more times per week. Conclusion: The knowledge about nutrition and diabetes mellitus was considered adequate, but socioeconomic and cultural factors may interfere in the adherence to diet therapy for diabetes or in the food choices made by the individuals. However, food consumption was considered appropriate among diabetics.

VITAMIN “A” FOOD CONSUMPTION BY PREGNANT WOMEN IN BRAZIL: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Objective: To conduct a systematic review of the Vitamin “A” food consumption by pregnant women in Brazil. Methods: The review consisted of a search for articles published in the period from 1999 to 2015 in SciELO, PubMed, and LILACS databases. At the end, eight articles were selected for this review. Results: The methods used for the analysis of the intake of vitamin “A” were: food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) – considering the diet or only vitamin “A” foods and the dietary recall (24hDR). Only two articles estimated the adequacy of the Vitamin “A” food consumption by the population assessed. Some methodological limitations were quite frequent, emphasizing the lack and/or limitation of information on the sample representativeness, loss of studies, accuracy of the methods applied and the control of confounding variables. Conclusion: It is observed that there are still few studies that critically assess the Vitamin “A” food consumption by pregnant women in Brazil, and that the identification and control of possible biases of the dietary surveys can improve the reliability of the information found.