Caracterización de los hábitos de alimentación en niños entre 0 y 5 años pertenecientes a 12 hogares infantiles de la Fundación Presencia en Medellín, Colombia.

Abstract

Early childhood is the key moment to acquire good eating habits, these are behaviors acquired from childhood and throughout life, are formed collectively and individually, repetitive and at times involuntary. The objective of this research was to determine eating habits in children between 0 and 5 years of age belonging to 12 children’s homes of the Fundación Presencia in Medellín, Colombia. An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study was carried out, and the secondary source of information collected by the Presence Foundation was used to characterize the participants' eating habits, The variables studied were food tastes and rejections and general feeding. We analyzed 413 records of children aged 0 to 5 years, and the preferences showed that 81.9% of the total population has a greater preference for fruits. 53.7% of the total population reject the nut group. 97.4% of the total population consumes 1 to 3 fried foods per day. This study may be the beginning for future research on the quality of early childhood nutrition in Medellín - Colombia; where there is a great influence of city hall programs such as Buen Comienzo, Implemented by actors such as foundations.