SUPLEMENTOS ALIMENTARES։ QUAL O CONHECIMENTO ENTRE ADOLESCENTES?

Objective։ To verify the knowledge about dietary supplements by adolescents. Methods։ It is a descriptive survey type study. Thus, the samples consisted of 300 adolescents (111 boys and 189 girls), aged 14 to 17 years old, from private and public high school in the city of Irati/PR. Adolescents were asked a questionnaire with related open and closed questions about knowledge, use and benefits of dietary supplements. For data analysis, descriptive statistics composed of percentile frequency (%) were used. Results։ 92.55% have heard about it. 83.50% consumed some type of supplement and 63.85% know someone who uses it. A large proportion responded that they did not know the objectives of using Creatine (49.40%), Nitrate/Nitric Oxide (82.20%) and BCAA (79.00%). However, the vast majority of those evaluated know the objectives of using Whey-Protein (47.30%) and Caffeine (69.65%). Conclusion։ It was possible to verify that a large proportion of adolescents have heard, consumed or know someone who consumes some type of supplement. Of these, a large majority responded that they did not know the purpose of using Creatine, Nitrate/Nitric Oxide and BCAA. However, they know the benefits of Whey-Protein and Caffeine.