Intake of protein, calcium and sodium in public child day care centers

OBJECTIVE: To assess calcium, protein and sodium intake, of children that attend public day-care centers and to compare it with the recommended one. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive study in seven public day care centers of São Paulo city, Southeast Brazil, which enrolled 366 children between 12 and 36 months of age. The data collection occurred between September and December 2010. Each day care center was evaluated for three non-consecutive days, totaling 42 days and 210 meals. Dietary intake was assessed by a direct food weighing method. For the nutritional calculation, DietWin((r)) Profissional 2.0 was used, and the adequacy was calculated according to the recommendations of the National School Feeding Program for energy, protein, calcium and sodium. The calcium/protein relation was also calculated, as well as calcium density (mg/1,000kcal). RESULTS: The energy (406.4kcal), protein (18.2g) and calcium (207.6mg) consumption did not reach the recommended values ​​in all the evaluated day care centers. Sodium intake exceeded up to three times the recommendation. The calcium/protein ratio of 11.7mg/g was less than the adequate one (20mg/g). CONCLUSIONS: There was inadequacy of calcium, protein and sodium dietary intake, in children attending public day-care centers.