OBJECTIVE: To identify the nutritional status and dietary practices of injured workers of Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with 600 injured workers seen at one of the 8 specialized centers of the city, between May and October 2004. The socioeconomic and occupational status, dietary practices and nutritional status (weight, height, waist circumference) were characterized, recording the means and standard deviation. RESULTS: The injured workers were mostly male (87.33%) factory workers (55.17%) with a mean age of 33 years. Most were formally employed (84.17%) in a fixed day shift (91.00%) and 55.33% had a fixed job. Nearly half of them were overweight (28.26%) or obese (17.89%) and excess weight was more common among those whose work required little physical activity (54.90%). Almost 1/3 of the workers had increased waist circumference, indicating cardiovascular risk. Most of the workers (85.33%) had access to the worker's food program. Most of them had two large meals daily, lunch (95.67%) and dinner (94.83%). Some (24.16%) did not have breakfast and some (37.50%) had snacks in between meals. Rice and beans were consumed daily by 98.67% of the workers, meats by 90.33%, starchy foods by 81.50%, dairy by 63.33%, vegetables by 55.17% and fruits by 32.67%. On the other hand, 53.00% reported consuming sweets and sodas daily and 38.67% reported eating fried and salty snacks daily. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of excess weight and the not very healthy aspects of their dietary habits corroborate to the current trend of increasing obesity rates, therefore more attention needs to be given to issues regarding health surveillance of workers.
accidents, occupational; nutritional status; cross-sectional studies; nutrition surveys; nutrition programmes and policies; occupational health
