Search

Studies on dietary practices in the scope of the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (PNAE) have identified a paradox: while the PNAE has progressed as a policy based on the human right to adequate diet, it has a paternalistic bias which tends to contribute to stigmatized identities. A study was thus performed to understand the interactions between dietary practices in school meals and identities. The theoretical and methodological approach was ethnographic, focusing on the scenario of a public school in the municipality (county) of Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia State, Brazil, in the upper years of elementary school. The ethnographic work was done in seven months, consisting of observation of daily meals at the school, recorded on a field diary, as well as 23 interviews with students and key actors. Analysis of the material consisted of a hermeneutic exercise and categorization of the emerging themes. This article is a cross-section of the study, presenting two categories: the first, "The school is ours", analyzes the redefinition of school in relation to a stigmatized identity; the second, "Food is what unites", presents school meals as a structuring element in students' identities and that of the school itself. The findings also show how the dialogue between the field of education and the field of food and nutrition can help school meals become part of school practices, not as mere nutritional support, but as food that values the public school and its members.

To describe the nutritional status and the environmental and health conditions of the Pataxó children from five villages of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Among the under 10 years old, weight and height/length were classified according to the growth references of World Health Organization. Questionnaires evaluating environmental conditions of the households and health conditions of under 5 years old were based in the First National Survey of Indigenous People's Health and Nutrition. Among the 70 children evaluated (93.3%), 34 were under 5 years old. Nutritional deficits were not observed and overweight was registered for 11.4% of the children. Most of the children (74.3%) lived in households with electric energy, 95% in households with toilets and 52.9% in households that threw waste in septic tanks. Six or more antenatal appointments were reported by 82.4% of the mothers of the under five years old and 91.2% started the antenatal appointments within the first trimester of pregnancy. Among the causes of hospitalizations in the previous 12 months (23.5%), only one was due to diarrhea and none to respiratory infection. Universal coverage was observed for the majority of the vaccines. The absence of nutritional deficits among the Pataxó children may be associated to better housing and sanitation conditions and coverage of basic childhood health actions when compared to the conditions reported by the First National Survey of Indigenous People's Health and Nutrition and related studies with other specific indigenous peoples. The current study aims to back discussions and measures to improve the nutritional status of indigenous children in Brazil.

This study aimed to measure the prevalence of food insecurity in a rural area of Northeast Brazil and investigate this outcome according to residence in quilombola communities (descendants of African slaves) versus non-quilombola communities. This was a cross-sectional study in 21 rural communities, 9 of which quilombolas, in 2014, using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA). Prevalence rates and prevalence ratios were estimated for food insecurity, and Poisson multiple regression analysis with robust variance was performed. Food insecurity was found in 52.1% of the families: 64.9% in quilombola communities and 42% in the others. Food insecurity was associated with belonging to a quilombola community (PR = 1.25), lower economic status (PR = 1.89; 2.98, and 3.22 for status C2, D, and E, respectively), beneficiaries of Bolsa Família program (PR = 1.52), and four or more household members (PR = 1.20). Food insecurity prevalence was high in the entire population, but it was even higher in quilombola communities, even though they belonged to the same coverage area. The results emphasize this population's vulnerability.

This cross-sectional population-based study in 2007 focused on prevalence of food insecurity and associated factors in households with adolescents in four towns in the Legal Amazonia located along highway BR-163, from Cuiabá, Mato Grosso State, to Santarém, Pará State, Brazil. The study applied the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale to a sample of 363 households. Anthropometric assessment was performed on 534 adolescents from 10 to 19 years of age. A Poisson model was used in the multiple regression analysis. The results showed 23.1% prevalence of moderate to severe food insecurity, suggesting association with the following: low income, poor sanitation, head of household born in Mato Grosso State, and the adolescent's race (black). The results emphasize the need for improved access to basic sanitation, training of human resources to generate employment/income, and educational activities to improve understanding of food insecurity and its determinants.