OBJECTIVE: The present study compared the diet quality of individuals exposed or not to a nutrition education program. METHODS: This cross-sectional study compared the diets of 54 individuals exposed to a nutrition education program for 18 months (varied between 2 and 169 months) (group E) to those of 46 individuals who did not receive nutritional counseling in the last six months (group NE). All participants underwent anthropometric (weight, height, body mass index, waist circumference) and dietary assessments (two 24-hour recalls). Nutrient intakes were calculated by the Avanutri software® and diet quality was estimated by the Healthy Eating Index adapted for the Brazilian population (IASad). RESULTS: A total of 100 individuals with a mean age of 40.7, SD=12.4 years and mean body mass index of 27.4, SD=4.7kg/m² were studied. The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of age and BMI. Group E had a higher IASad score than group NE (97.0, SD=6.2 vs 84.2, SD=15.2, p<0.001). Regarding IASad classification categories, the percentages of individuals consuming a good-quality diet in the two groups differed significantly (29.6% in group E vs 17.4% in group NE) as did the percentages of those consuming a poor-quality diet (0% in group E versus 10.9% in group NE, p=0.014). Group E scored higher than group NE for vegetables, fruits, dairy, cholesterol and diet variety and lower than group NE for oils and sugars. CONCLUSION: Individuals exposed to a nutrition education program had a better-quality diet than individuals not exposed to nutritional counseling. These findings reinforce the importance of nutrition education for the promotion of healthy food habits.
Nutrition assessment; Feeding behavior; Food consumption; Diet; Food and nutrition education
