Social and Racial Disparities in Food Consumption Among Brazilian College Students: a Nationwide Study.

This study aims to assess the association between economic class, race/skin color, and food consumption among Brazilian college students. A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted with college students from all over Brazil. Demographic data, economic class, self-reported race/skin color, anthropometry, and food consumption markers from the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Surveillance System were collected. The final sample comprised 5843 participants with a mean age of 24.1 (SD: 6.3) years, 4292 (73.5%) were female, and 810 (13.9%) in the highest economic stratum. We observed a progressive decrease in the frequency of fresh fruits and vegetables consumption from higher to lower economic classes (p < 0.01 for both). Contrarily, there was a progressive increase in the frequency of consumption of beans from higher to lower economic classes (p < 0.01). The frequency consumption of vegetables was also associated with race/skin color (p < 0.01), being lower in brown (PR: 0.94; CI 95%: 0.90; 0.98), and black (PR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.85; 0.98) individuals, compared to white individuals. Brown individuals showed higher frequency consumption of beans (PR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.05; 1.15) than whites. When compared to individuals of white race/skin color, brown (PR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01; 1.13) and black (PR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.07; 1.23) individuals showed higher frequency consumption of sweetened beverages. Economic class and race/skin color were independent factors associated with the food consumption of Brazilian college students.

Use of the activPAL® triaxial accelerometer to estimate total energy expenditure in low-income women: differences between body mass index classifications.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the agreement between the total energy expenditure (TEE) estimated by the activPAL® triaxial accelerometers (ACC) and the TEE measured by the doubly labeled water method (DLW), as well as to assess if these values differ between the classifications of body mass index (BMI). Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Low-income adult women (19-45y) with BMI ≥ 18.5 kg/m2 were included. Accelerometry data (activPAL® ) were collected over 7 consecutive days, which were used to calculate TEE-ACC and compared with DLW data. The Bland-Altman method, concordance correlation coefficient and root mean square error were used to assess agreement between methods. Results: The sample consisted of 55 women with a mean age of 31 ± 5 years. The agreement between TEE-ACC and TEE-DLW showed a bias of -142.5 kcal (-7.1%). Among the BMI classifications, participants with normal weight show a bias of -417.1 kcal (-21.0%), participants with overweight, -87.5 kcal (-3.9%) and participants with obesity, 97.5 kcal (4.3%). Furthermore, the bias between the methods showed a significant and positive correlation with the body weight (r = 0.49; p < 0.01). Conclusion: The TEE-ACC estimates from activPAL® were reasonably accurate when compared to the TEE-DLW, especially in women with overweight and obesity, being much less accurate in individuals with normal weight.