Consumo alimentar em beneficiários do Programa Bolsa Família do município de Itaqui - RS

Abstract

We aimed to assess the food consumption in participants of the Brazilian conditional cash transfer program called Bolsa Família in the city of Itaqui, RS. Data collection was carried out at primary health care units with a questionnaire containing socioeconomic, demographic and food consumption information. Food consumption was assessed by the daily number of meals as well as by consumption of healthy and unhealthy food groups. We interviewed 116 individuals who average aged 36 years. The families were composed, on average, by 3.4 members, 50% of respondents were the head of the family and more than 70% were employed by the time of the study. Regarding food consumption, 80% reported have consumed bean and 50% ate fresh fruits and vegetables on the day before the interview. On the other hand, more than 2/3 of the sample reported consumption of sweetened beverages, almost half reported sandwich cookies consumption, candies or treats and more than 25% ate hamburger and snacks. The mean of daily number of meals was 3.5. We observed a positive association between number of meals and number of residents per house. The prevalence of healthy and unhealthy food groups consumption was high for everybody. Nevertheless, we observed that those individuals who lived in houses with five or more people presented lower consumption of both groups. We concluded that the extra income from the Bolsa Família program is increasing individual access to food, but it does not represent higher quality of diet.