A STUDY ON THE INTAKE FREQUENCY OF DIFFERENT FOODS IN SCHOOL CHILDREN

Demographic, technological, economic, and environmental changes have affected availability of foods and generated an increase in the offer of processed foods, and subsequently nutritional problems (Livingstone B, 2000; O´Donnell). Twenty-four boys/girls, mean age 11.01 ± 0.6, attending a school located in a District in the 1rst belt of Greater Buenos Aires were included in the study; the parents or care-givers gave their informed consent. The subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the intake frequency of 19 categories of foods, classified into 151 types; diagnosis of oral status was established based on presence of dental plaque (PI, OPI, according to Silness and Loe, 1063; Piovano et al, 2002), dental status (ICDAS II, 200s, DMFT Knutson et al, 1034; CTNI, Bordoni et al, 1998) and gingival status (GI, according to Loe and Silness, 1967). Data were classified according to category and intake frequency and corresponding associations were established. Results were as follows: DMFT was 3.29±0.49, component D was 3.04±0.48; PI was 1.37 ± 0.16; GI was 1.51± 0.10; OPI was 1.54 ± 0.16; 16.7% of boys/girls presented a value of 0 whereas 75% showed values above 4. The following statistically significant associations and correlations must be pointed out: cheese intake and DS (rho = – 0.63; p<0.05); highest values of ICDAS II and OPI (X2 = 6.04; p < 0.02; rho = 0.75; p < 0.01); chocolate and DS (X2 = 4.01; p < 0.05; rho= – 0.41; p<0.05). Our results show that (a) although component D is moderate, 75% of boys/girls exhibited advanced lesions; (b) intake frequency of certain foods seems to affect the studied dental indicators. UBANEX, 2006; UBACYT 0750