Análise quantitativa dos nutrientes dos cardápios servidos nas creches de período integral em Palmas/TO utilizando programação linear

Abstract

Palmas, the capital of Tocantins, has 84 educational units, 30 as Municipal Center for Early Childhood Education - CMEI and 22 receive full-time children. This quantitative cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the amount of nutrients from the menus served in the CMEI's for macro and micronutrients to compare with the minimum recommendations recommended by the PNAE for the age group from 1 to 3 years of age who attend full-time. Four meals are served daily, supplying at least 70% of the nutritional needs for children. The menus were submitted to a linear programming model to optimize the best combination of the proposed foods to ensure the quantitative contribution of some nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, iron, fiber, calcium and calories. It was concluded that the menus offered meet the vast majority of the recommended macro and micronutrient values. It was observed that it has been of great importance to monitor the nutrition professional throughout the process from the acquisition of food to the provision of meals to children using technological monitoring resources. Alternatively, alternatively to the model proposed by the ministry, it is recommended to use mechanisms with technological tools/solutions for conference and/or nutritional adjustments in the preparation of menus.