Differences in food consumption in child population between an urban environment and one rural

Abstract

Introduction. Overweight and obesity respond to socioeconomic, cultural and family factors, but there is no unanimity in the influence of rural-urban children on their habits and food consumption. For this reason, the objective is to study the frequency and possible difference of food consumption according to the residence environment. Material and methods. Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study in children of 6th grade of an urban population (n=111) and another rural one (n=58). Anthropometric variables, nutritional habits and frequency of 24 food groups were obtained. Bivariate analysis of all variables according to environment and ordinal logistic regression was performed, adjusting by sex and age. The data was anonymised and carried out with the authorization of the pertinent Ethical Committee. Results. Of 111 childrens, 54.4% were girls and 10.9±0.5 years old mean age, without significant differences between both populations, as well as with anthropometric variables. In the bivariate analysis, only the consumption of industrial pastries is higher in the urban setting (p=0.004), this data is confirmed by the multivariate analysis when adjusting by sex and age (OR=3.34; 95% CI 1.46-7.63; p=0.004), which also shows significance for lower consumption of white bread in the urban environment (OR=0.53; 95% CI 0.29-0.97; p=0.037). In relation to the eating habits of breakfast and lunch in school cafeteria, no significant difference between both environments is observed. Conclusion. The habits and consumption of food is practically identical in urban and rural environment in children of sixth grade

Keywords

• frequency of food consumption
• ; habits
• rural
• urban
• school