Qualitative Consumption of Processed Foods with Allura Red Additive in Mexican Primary School Children
Miriam Fonceca Martínez1
, Mari Carmen López Pérez2 and Fabián Pérez Labrada1,2*
1Universidad Vizcaya de las Américas campus Saltillo, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza, Col. Nueva España. Saltillo Coahuila, México.
2Universidad Estatal de Sonora, Unidad Académica Navojoa. Blvd. Manlio Fabio Beltrones, Col. Bugambilias. Navojoa Sonora, México.
Corresponding Author Email: fabperlab@outlook.com
Abstract:
There is a high supply of industrialized food products that contain many additives, such as colorants. To verify the qualitative consumption of Allura Red in primary schoolchildren, the present cross-sectional quantitative work was established under a retrospective expo facto design. On a school child population (5 - 8 years) from the city of Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, Mexico, selected in a probabilistic way, a questionnaire applied to qualitatively verify the consumption of said additive. Descriptive and frequency analyses applied to the data obtained, as well as the Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson's X2 test (p≤0.05). The child population evidenced a high consumption of processed products containing Allura Red additive, the intake of jellies and candies (p = 0.025 and p = 0.043, respectively) showed differences between girls and boys. There was a very frequent consumption of "red soft drinks”, dairy - yogurt, oatmeal - flour, and box cereals (61 and 54%, respectively). Likewise, a high association was found between the intake of dairy products - yogurt and cereals (p = 0.008), oats and flour for pancakes and cereal in the box (p = 0.010), as well as consumption of candies and jellies (p = 0.000). High qualitative consumption of processed foods with Allura Red additive was found; it's imperative to reduce the excessive consumption of these products by establishing comprehensive strategies.
Keywords:
Candies; Colorants; Infants; Recommended Daily Intake; Red Soft Drinks
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