Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the consumption of minimally-processed and ultraprocessed foods in relation with sociodemographic variables, maternal habits, educational activity received during prenatal care and clinical history. METHODS: A cross-sectional, analytical and descriptive study with 1,035 pregnant women who lives in the municipalities of the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil (RMGV-ES), and who were hospitalized in establishments of the Unified Health System (SUS) due to childbirth (April-September 2010). The food frequency questionnaire, pregnant woman's card and information from the medical records of the health facility unit were analyzed. The Chi-square test and the binary logistic regression model were used to investigate the association between the independent variables and the consumption of ultraprocessed foods. RESULTS: It was identified that pregnant women ≤19 years of age were 2.9 times more likely to consume ultraprocessed foods (confidence interval [CI] 95% 1.683-5.168, p < 0.001), while those ≥35 years old were less likely to consume them (odds ratio [OR] 0.265, 95% CI 0.105-0.666, p = 0.005). Maternal smoking increased the odds of consumption of ultraprocessed foods by 2.2 times (95% CI 1.202-4.199, p = 0.011) and pregnant women who did not obtain information on healthy food during prenatal care presented 54.1% less chances of consuming minimally-processed foods (OR 0.459, 95% CI 0.307-0.687, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Smoking during the gestational period and being a teenager are factors that influence the consumption of ultraprocessed foods of pregnant women. Race/color, head of household, age group, receiving of information about feeding in the prenatal period and not having smoked in gestation determined the consumption of minimally-processed foods.