To discover the new eating patterns of the Brazilian population, researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) will conduct the largest study ever conducted on people's daily eating habits.
Coordinated by the Center for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Health (Nupens) at the School of Public Health (FSP) at USP, it will be the first academic survey conducted in Brazil using only a cell phone.
The center aims to conduct an ambitious study with 200,000 people from all regions of the country, to identify which characteristics increase or decrease the risk of common diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer.
Studies on dietary patterns are increasingly common to identify the relationship with the risk of developing chronic diseases. Discovering dietary profiles allows us to recognize the importance of certain patterns and protect populations from disease and promote health.
"Diet is determined by people's culture, history, and habits, and it's not necessarily possible to apply results from another country to one's own. Therefore, it's very important to study Brazilian eating patterns. It's also important to discover the characteristics of this pattern, which varies regionally and will protect the health of Brazilians themselves," explained Maria Laura Louzada, a professor in the Department of Nutrition at FSP-USP and a researcher at Nupens, in an interview with USP Newspaper on Air.
Brazilian dietary pattern
According to Maria Laura, the study's objective is to observe and understand how changes in the Brazilian diet, which has increasingly included processed foods, will impact people's health over the years. "We know that this pattern is changing, and we are increasingly approaching the pattern of northern countries," says the professor. Nupens's study aims to understand how the choice to change or not change eating habits will correlate with the population's health or illness.
"In the future, we'll combine participant data with other data, such as hospital admissions, cancer records, and even mortality records. This will help us determine the risk of developing these diseases or even dying from one of these diseases based on their dietary patterns," says Carlos Augusto Monteiro, a professor at the University of São Paulo's School of Public Health.
The researchers highlighted that Brazil has several distinct food cultures. In the Southeast region, for example, there is a higher consumption of rice, beans, bread, and processed foods such as soft drinks, cookies, and snacks. There is also a lower consumption of vegetables.
"This information will certainly help our country and our society implement science-informed public policies. Public policies must be evidence-based, science-based, and this is the main contribution of the Nutrinet Brasil study," Monteiro concludes.
To participate, volunteers need to register on the website Nutrinet Brazil Study.