Journal
JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION AND BEHAVIOR
Volume 46, Issue 5, Pages 370-375Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2014.01.007
Keywords
cultural comparison; food pattern; adolescents; meal; sugar-sweetened beverage; Brazil
Funding
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute from the National Institutes of Health [R01HL084064]
- FAPESP-Sao Paulo Research Foundation [2009/7224-6]
- National Council for Scientific and Technological Development [201588/2010-2]
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Objective: Describe cross-cultural differences in nutrition-related factors among adolescents from Sao Paulo, Brazil and St Paul-Minneapolis, US. Design: Two large-population-based studies with cross-cultural comparisons. Setting: Twelve Sao Paulo and 10 St Paul-Minneapolis high schools in 2009-2010. Participants: A total of 1,148 adolescents from Sao Paulo and 1,632 adolescents from St Paul-Minneapolis. Main Outcome Measure(s): Meal consumption, family meals, fast-food consumption, and home food availability. Analysis: Binomial regressions, weighted for age distributions and adjusted for gender, were used to compare identical measures from each sample. Results: Generally, Sao Paulo adolescents reported healthier nutritional outcomes than St Paul-Minneapolis adolescents. Sao Paulo adolescents were 7 times less likely to report high fast-food consumption than St Paul-Minneapolis adolescents (P < .001). Whereas most measures of the home environment indicated healthier home environments in Sao Paulo, more Sao Paulo adolescents reported that sugar-sweetened beverages were usually available at home than did St Paul-Minneapolis adolescents (P < .001). Conclusions and Implications: Sao Paulo youth tended to have healthier eating behaviors and home food environment factors than St Paul-Minneapolis youth. Brazilian eating patterns tend to be healthier and support a connection with food and culture. Interventions are needed to encourage youth and their families to maintain these patterns.
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