engleski

Consumption of processed food and its impact on diet quality in Croatian school-aged children

In countries around the world, a dietary shift is observed in which the consumption of highly processed foods with high content of added sugar, sodium and fat increases over unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Such inadequate dietary behaviour in childhood can increase the risk of developing obesity and other non-communicable diseases. The objectives of this study were to observe the consumption of processed foods in the overall diet of school-aged children and to estimate differences in dietary intake between two dietary fractions. Dietary intake was observed from dietary records for three non-consecutive days of 168 children (50.6% boys) aged 8.3 ± 0.5 years (Zagreb City). All foods and beverages were classified into four groups according to the NOVA Food Classification system based on the type, extent and purpose of industrial food processing. The contribution of each NOVA food group to total energy was calculated and the mean nutrient intake of two dietary fractions (<50% and ≥50% of total energy intake from ultra-processed foods) was compared. Anthropometric measurements were performed according to standard protocols, while z-scores were obtained using AnthroPlus software. Results show that ‘unprocessed or minimally processed foods’ had the highest proportion of dietary intake (38.4% of energy intake), followed by ‘ultra-processed foods’ (37.7%), ‘processed foods’ (16.4%), and ‘processed culinary ingredients’ (7.5%). There was no difference in all four processed food categories intake by gender or BMI. Children who had ≥50% of their energy intake from 'ultra-processed foods' had lower intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (p=0.003), polyunsaturated fatty acids (p=0.004), vitamins and minerals compared with children with <50%. In conclusion, nearly one-third of energy intake in these Zagreb school-aged children came from ultra-processed foods, which may contribute to poor overall nutrition. Further research is needed on the factors contributing to the consumption of ultra-processed foods to reduce their intake.

dietary patterns ; dietary intake ; food processing ; NOVA ; ultra-processed food

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