Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the temporal trend of coverage and prevalence of ultra-processed food consumption and nutritional status among pregnant women registered on the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System, at the national level and by macro-region. METHODS: This was a time series analysis study, using data on adult and adolescent pregnant women from public production reports and consolidated reports from the system, at the national level and by macro-region, from 2008 to 2022. The annual variation rate of coverage, food consumption and anthropometry indicators was estimated using Prais-Winsten regression, with a 5% significance level. RESULTS: A total of 319,568 food consumption records and 6,585,600 anthropometric data records were identified. Annual coverage showed an increasing trend of 14.3% for food consumption (95% confidence interval [95%CI] 4.3; 24.7) and 15.2% for anthropometric data (95%CI 10.2; 20.4). Average prevalence of ultra-processed food consumption was 90.0%, remaining stable and high, with greater frequency in the Northeast region. Obesity increased from 13.3% to 29.9% in adult pregnant women and from 4.5% to 10.4% in pregnant adolescents, with an annual variation of 5.2% and 5.9% (p-value <0.001). CONCLUSION: There was an increase in the annual coverage of ultra-processed food consumption and anthropometric data of pregnant women registered on the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System. Ultra-processed food consumption prevalence remained stable and high, with a higher frequency of this food group in the Northeast. Percentage obesity increased in the population studied, without, however, showing a direct association between these factors.