ASSOCIAÇÃO ENTRE CONSUMO DE ALIMENTOS ULTRAPROCESSADOS E EXCESSO DE PESO EM ALUNOS DE UMA UNIVERSIDADE PÚBLICA DO CEARÁ.

Introduction: The increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods and overweight has been widely discussed in recent years. Objective: To investigate the association between the consumption of ultra-processed food with overweight and abdominal obesity in students from a Public University in Ceará. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study, whose final sample included 380 students linked to the courses of the Center of Health Sciences (CCS). The collection was made through the measurement of anthropometric measures and application of questionnaires. The anthropometric data measured were weight, height and waist circumference (WC). The food consumption was collected by means of two 24-hour recall tests, applied on nonconsecutive days. Poisson Regression with robust variance estimation was performed in a bivariate and multivariate analysis to estimate the Prevalence Ratios (PR) and 95% Confidence Intervals of the relationship between consumption of ultra-processed foods and overweight and abdominal obesity. Results: In relation to the percentage caloric contribution of ultra-processed food, we observed a mean contribution of 27.7 (20.2%) versus 56.5 (20.7%) for fresh and minimally processed food. The majority (67.6%) were not overweight and abdominally obese (90.5%). There were no significant associations between overweight and abdominal obesity with the consumption of ultra-processed foods. Conclusion: Although there was no association, the percentage of consumption of ultraprocessed foods in the sample is considerable, and educational actions are required to improve food quality in the university environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]