Prevalência da inadequação no consumo de nutrientes entre gestantes atendidas em unidades básicas de saúde

Objective: To assess the dietary intake of pregnant women attended in Basic Health Units of Picos-Piaui. Methods: Cross-sectional study involving 72 pregnant women. Sociodemographic and lifestyle data was collected, plus information on dietary intake from three 24-hour food recalls. The prevalence of inadequacy for carbohydrate, calcium, iron, A, C, E vitamins, and folate were calculated based on their respective estimated average requirements (EAR), while the adequacy of habitual energy intake relative to usual energy expenditure was estimated indirectly by body mass index (BMI). Results: It was found that 86.1% of the pregnant women had a per capita income lower than one minimum wage, 4.2% were smokers and 11.1% used alcohol during pregnancy. As regards consumption, carbohydrates and vitamin C had inadequacy prevalence lower than 2%, while vitamin A ranged from 30 to 50%. Calcium, iron, folate, and vitamin E had inadequacy prevalence higher than 98%. Considering that 38.9% of the pregnant women were overweight and 4.2%, underweight, it is assumed that the prevalence of energy intake inadequacy is high. Conclusion: There was a high inadequacy prevalence in the micronutrients calcium, iron, folate, and vitamin E intake in pregnant women, as well as high inadequacy of energy consumption – a disturbing situation, since it can trigger adverse consequences for the mother-baby binomial. doi: 10.5020/18061230.2014.p357