Meal Pattern in the Colombian Population: Results of the National Nutrition Survey. ENSIN, 2015

Background. Information on meal patterns (type, number, relative contribution to energy/day (%), time, and location of meals) is limited or nonexistent. Design. Cross-sectional, nationally representative surveys. Setting. Colombia. Participants. n = 26,115 from 3 to 64 years old. The sample analyzed included 3,127 children between 3 and 4 years old, 13,384 children between 5 and 17 years old, and 9,604 adults between 18 and 64 years old. Data Analysis. Meal patterns were described by age group. Through multiple linear regression, crude and adjusted differences in the categories of the covariates studied were estimated. The number/day of meals was the dependent variable. Results. The number of meals/day (mean ± SD) was 4.4 ± 0.0, without differences by sex P=0.068, current weight P=0.336 , or wealth index P=0.480, but there were differences in the level of education of the head of the household P<0.0001 and the level of food security of the household P<0.0001. A total of 96.8% of the population eats 3 or more meals/day (95% CI: 96.2, 97.2). The consumption frequency (mean ± SD) of the three main meals was 0.95 ± 0.0 “times/day,” 1.0 ± 0.0 and 0.95 ± 0.0, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. Lunch is the meal that makes the greatest relative contribution to the total energy consumed (energy/day), 33.9% (95% CI: 32.7, 35.1). Breakfast is eaten outside the home by 13.0% of the subjects, lunch by 26.0%, and dinner by 3.8%. The minimum fasting interval is 9 hours and the maximum is 10 hours and 30 minutes. The meal pattern is equivalent to type “A,” with three main meals and two or three intermediate meals (midmorning and midafternoon) taken during 15 hours of the day. Conclusions. All age groups had more than four meals/day. The number is directly related to socioeconomic level. Lunch is the main meal.