Supplement consumption and macronutrients: associated factors

Abstract

Introduction and objective: The consumption of supplements has proved to be a promising and expanding market in Brazil. Formerly considered as food for athletes, today it is consumed by the general population practicing physical activity or not, often under the influence of marketing, looking for results in supplements. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate reasons for purchasing sports supplements, assess energy and macronutrient needs, using the Institute of Medicine and the acceptable macronutrient distribution intervals - AMDR as a basis. Materials and methods: For this, an interview was carried out, a 24-hour questionnaire and food reminder were applied to a sample of customers at a supplement store in the city of Curitiba-PR. Such data were quantified and analyzed with the aid of Excel and SPSS software to express the information obtained in percentages of the most consumed products, existence of nutritional prescription or not and comparison of macronutrient intake with the recommendations. Discussion and results: The total sample of 30 people showed an average of 41.92% (±8.25) for caloric intake of carbohydrates, a value below that recommended by AMDR, analyzing g/kg/day the average protein intake had a value of 2.58g/kg/day (±0.66) above the recommendations. Yet 93.3% of respondents do not consume under the prescription of a nutritionist, which reflected in the sample's dietary imbalance. Men have higher calorie and protein consumption compared to women. Conclusion: Food consumption associated with supplements differed from the recommendations and the consumption of supplements proved unnecessary in view of the public's needs.