Alimentos para controle de peso: perfil de consumidores e investigação do consumo

Abstract

The increase in obesity and overweight conditions can lead to a series of adverse consequences in various aspects of people's lives, which has become a global concern, resulting in increased awareness about health and aesthetics. As a result, a portion of the population turns to food for weight control, such as partial meal replacement shakes. These products are found in different types of establishments and are marketed without control over their consumption. Therefore, they are accessible to people of different age groups, which can lead to their improper use due to lack of information and proper guidance from a healthcare professional, resulting in their inefficacy. Consequently, the aim was to analyze the profile of consumers of weight control foods, such as shakes, and investigate their consumption patterns. For this purpose, a quantitative and qualitative research was conducted through a questionnaire with thirty-one questions distributed on social media platforms, aiming to identify socio-economic characteristics, indications for use, factors motivating consumption, physical activity practices, dietary habits, whether any professional guidance was received during product use, and the effectiveness of their usage. The study involved 104 participants, the majority (76%) being female, with a well-distributed age range: 18 to 30 years old (41.3%), 31 to 40 years old (31.7%), 41 to 59 years old (23.1%), and over 60 years old (3.8%), mostly single (55.8%), with completed high school education (31.7%), and a family income of 1 to 4 minimum wages (77.9%). Approximately 42% of participants pointed out media as the main influencers in recommending the use of shakes, price being the most mentioned buying factor, weight loss being indicated as the primary motivation for consumption (67%), nearly half of the participants do not engage in physical activity (48%), over half do not have healthy eating habits (52%), nor do they have medical/nutritionist supervision (88.5%). The effectiveness of shake usage was evaluated by 40% of respondents as neutral (having no effect or alteration). Therefore, based on the obtained responses, it can be understood that consumers of weight control foods, such as shakes, who participated in the research did not achieve satisfactory results during the product usage. Much of this could be attributed to the lack of adequate information about the consumption and utilization of shakes, as well as the absence of professional supervision.