OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether there is any relationship between dietary fats and measures of adiposity in military policemen from Cascavel (PR), Brazil. METHODS: The study evaluated 183 male military policemen from the 6th. Military Police Force of Cascavel (PR), aged from 21 to 50 years. Weight, height, body mass index and waist circumference were measured and food intake was determined by the 24-hour dietary recall. Dietary fats were related with the anthropometric indicators body mass index, waist circumference and percentage of body fat. RESULTS: The most common nutritional diagnoses found in 117 (63.9%) of the policemen were overweight and obesity. Waist circumference showed that 22 (12.0%) of these men were at high risk of metabolic complications associated with obesity and 26 (18.6%) had high body fat percentiles. Fat intake was high in 53 (70.7%) of the 75 validated surveys, however, only 24 (32.0%) ingested saturated fats above the recommended levels. There was a positive correlation only between total fat intake and the anthropometric indicator waist circumference (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that fat intake above the recommended levels may be associated with abdominal adiposity in this population.
Abdominal fat; Dietary fats; Military personnel; Obesity
