Asian countries have become one of the largest export markets for US food developers during the past decade. Understanding consumer expectations and needs in a cross-cultural framework has gained importance for new products to succeed in the international markets. A sports-drink, which is a functional drink for athletes, has been successfully introduced in the US. The product is also growing in popularity internationally. However, the concept and product sports-drink is relatively novel among Asians. The overall objective of this study was to investigate cross-cultural consumer acceptance and fundamental factors driving diversities in food acceptance using a sportsdrink varied in sweetener concentration. In the first part of the study, respondents (372) from Indonesia, Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand, and United States evaluated sports-drink samples at four sweetener levels. Respondents' expected sensory characteristics, concept fitness, functionality, and experience with twenty commercial beverages were also evaluated. The results show that the optimal sweetness level for the sports-drink was lower for Americans than Asians. The degree of increase in perceived sweetness intensity over sweetener levels was greater among Americans than Asians. Also, there were considerable cultural differences in expectations for various beverages. In addition, experience with a product was another key factor affecting expectations. Based on the results from the first part of the study, a model delineating the processes of hedonic and intensity rating incorporating familiarity, concepts, and context effect was developed. To investigate the significance of this model, expectations were rated and sensory testing was carried out by modifying concepts and using different contexts of beverages. People (256) from Mainland China, Indonesia, Korea, and United States (US) participated in this experiment. The length of exposure to a sports-drink was a key factor affecting the optimum sweetener level for a sports drink. Concept influenced both expectation and taste rating of a sports-drink for the panelists who had been exposed to the sports-drink longer. Less exposed panelists were only affected in their taste rating by different concepts. When the concept was less acceptable, the acceptance rating of the optimum sweetener sample was also lowered. US panelists had a different expectation for a lemon-lime flavored beverage than did Asians. Ideal sweetness intensity ratings for general beverages was a good predictor in determining for panelists' optimum sweetener level for a sports-drink. Based on the model proposed, cross-cultural diversities in sweetness preference were better understood. / Graduation date: 2000

Salzinger (1998) define o comportamento verbal como um operante sujeito às conseqüências e discute que o comportamento verbal é parte de uma cadeia de respostas verbais e não verbais, públicas e encobertas, estando intimamente envolvido no manejo de outros comportamentos às vezes como causa, agindo como estímulo discriminativo e outras vezes apresentando o papel de efeito. Nesta encadeamento verbal, é fundamental estudar o papel das regras como estímulos verbais que descrevem contingências de reforçamento de forma completa ou parcial e conseqüências, e controlam a probabilidade de uma resposta. O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar o efeito de variáveis verbais antecedentes com e sem autoclíticos, conseqüentes com autoclíticos e conseqüentes não verbais, para a instalação e manutenção do comportamento de escolha de alimentos variados para o café da manhã, considerando os diferentes grupos alimentares. Para isto, vinte crianças com faixa etária entre 10 e 12 anos foram organizadas igualmente em cinco Experimentos com arranjos diferentes quanto ao uso de variáveis verbais e não verbais. Na mesa de escolha de alimentos, havia quatro alimentos representantes dos carboidratos, dois das gorduras e quatro das proteínas e era considerada como escolha variada a resposta de escolher ao menos dois representantes dos carboidratos e proteínas e um das gorduras. Foram testadas ao todo dez diferentes variáveis nesse estudo, sendo nove delas verbais e uma não verbal, entre antecedentes e conseqüentes, distribuídas entre os Experimentos de forma a se manter um equilíbrio do número de fases em cada um deles. Houve variáveis antecedentes com variados graus de descrição da resposta que a criança deveria desempenhar, cada uma com autoclíticos diferentes, variáveis aplicadas individualmente e em grupo e uma variável de controle aversivo. Em alguns Experimentos procurou-se inverter as fases com emprego de variável antecedente com as fases que empregaram variável conseqüente, para se estabelecer uma comparação quanto à eficácia das mesmas na instalação e manutenção do comportamento de escolha variada. Os resultados principais indicam maior controle verbal das variáveis verbais conseqüentes com autoclíticos e das variáveis antecedentes com autoclíticos específicos e com descrição da resposta bem detalhada que aumenta a discriminabilidade dos estímulos relacionados à resposta e a probabilidade do fazer. Além da avaliação de que componentes da variável verbal podem melhor funcionar no controle do comportamento não verbal, no estudo fica evidente o importante papel das variáveis sociais na efetividade do controle verbal. Identificou-se especialmente no Experimento 5 que o controle verbal é maior em grupo, tanto no que se refere à mudança de comportamento de todos os participantes, como à manutenção da mesma após a retirada do controle verbal. As discussões gerais sobre os resultados mostram que o comportamento de escolha de alimentos parece ser fortemente instalado ao longo da história, de modo que sua alteração requer variáveis verbais tanto antecedentes como conseqüentes bastante específicas / Salzinger (1998) defines verbal behavior as an operant subject to consequences and argues that verbal behavior is part of a chain of verbal and nonverbal, overt or covert responses, being closely involved in managing other behaviors sometimes as \"cause\", acting as a discriminative stimulus, and other times playing an effect role. In this verbal enchainment, it is of fundamental importance to study the role of rules as verbal stimuli which describe reinforcing contingencies in a complete or partial manner and consequences, and control the likelihood of a response. The objective of this paper was to investigate the effect of antecedent verbal variables with and without autoclytics, consequents with autoclytics and nonverbal consequents, on the onset and maintenance of the behavior to choose varied foods for breakfast, considering the different food groups. To this end, twenty children aged between 10 and 12 were equally divided into five experiments with different arrangements as to the use of verbal and nonverbal variants. On the food choice table, there were four types of foods representing carbohydrates, two for fats and four for proteins, with a varied choice being considered as the response to choose at least two types of carbohydrates and proteins and one of fats. In all, ten different variables were tested in this study, with nine of them being verbal and one nonverbal, between antecedents and consequents, distributed among the experiments so as to maintain a balance of the number of phases in each one of them. There were antecedent variables with various degrees of description of the response the child was supposed to perform, each with different autoclytics, individually- and groupapplied variables and an aversive control variable. In some experiments we tried to reverse the phases using an antecedent variable with the phases which used a consequent variable, in order to establish a comparison as to their effectiveness in the onset and maintenance of the varied choice behavior. The main results indicate greater verbal control of consequent verbal variables with autoclytics and of antecedent variables with specific autoclytics and with detailed description of the response, which increases discriminability of the response-related stimuli and the likelihood of performing it. In addition to the assessment that components of the verbal variable may work better in controlling nonverbal behavior, the study evidences the important role played by social variables in the effectiveness of verbal control. It was identified, especially in experiment 5, that verbal control is higher in group, both regarding the change of behavior by all participants and its maintenance after verbal control was removed. General discussions on the results show that the food choice behavior seems to have been strongly settled along history, so that its alteration requires very specific verbal variables both antecedent and consequent

Salzinger (1998) define o comportamento verbal como um operante sujeito às conseqüências e discute que o comportamento verbal é parte de uma cadeia de respostas verbais e não verbais, públicas e encobertas, estando intimamente envolvido no manejo de outros comportamentos às vezes como causa, agindo como estímulo discriminativo e outras vezes apresentando o papel de efeito. Nesta encadeamento verbal, é fundamental estudar o papel das regras como estímulos verbais que descrevem contingências de reforçamento de forma completa ou parcial e conseqüências, e controlam a probabilidade de uma resposta. O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar o efeito de variáveis verbais antecedentes com e sem autoclíticos, conseqüentes com autoclíticos e conseqüentes não verbais, para a instalação e manutenção do comportamento de escolha de alimentos variados para o café da manhã, considerando os diferentes grupos alimentares. Para isto, vinte crianças com faixa etária entre 10 e 12 anos foram organizadas igualmente em cinco Experimentos com arranjos diferentes quanto ao uso de variáveis verbais e não verbais. Na mesa de escolha de alimentos, havia quatro alimentos representantes dos carboidratos, dois das gorduras e quatro das proteínas e era considerada como escolha variada a resposta de escolher ao menos dois representantes dos carboidratos e proteínas e um das gorduras. Foram testadas ao todo dez diferentes variáveis nesse estudo, sendo nove delas verbais e uma não verbal, entre antecedentes e conseqüentes, distribuídas entre os Experimentos de forma a se manter um equilíbrio do número de fases em cada um deles. Houve variáveis antecedentes com variados graus de descrição da resposta que a criança deveria desempenhar, cada uma com autoclíticos diferentes, variáveis aplicadas individualmente e em grupo e uma variável de controle aversivo. Em alguns Experimentos procurou-se inverter as fases com emprego de variável antecedente com as fases que empregaram variável conseqüente, para se estabelecer uma comparação quanto à eficácia das mesmas na instalação e manutenção do comportamento de escolha variada. Os resultados principais indicam maior controle verbal das variáveis verbais conseqüentes com autoclíticos e das variáveis antecedentes com autoclíticos específicos e com descrição da resposta bem detalhada que aumenta a discriminabilidade dos estímulos relacionados à resposta e a probabilidade do fazer. Além da avaliação de que componentes da variável verbal podem melhor funcionar no controle do comportamento não verbal, no estudo fica evidente o importante papel das variáveis sociais na efetividade do controle verbal. Identificou-se especialmente no Experimento 5 que o controle verbal é maior em grupo, tanto no que se refere à mudança de comportamento de todos os participantes, como à manutenção da mesma após a retirada do controle verbal. As discussões gerais sobre os resultados mostram que o comportamento de escolha de alimentos parece ser fortemente instalado ao longo da história, de modo que sua alteração requer variáveis verbais tanto antecedentes como conseqüentes bastante específicas / Salzinger (1998) defines verbal behavior as an operant subject to consequences and argues that verbal behavior is part of a chain of verbal and nonverbal, overt or covert responses, being closely involved in managing other behaviors sometimes as \"cause\", acting as a discriminative stimulus, and other times playing an effect role. In this verbal enchainment, it is of fundamental importance to study the role of rules as verbal stimuli which describe reinforcing contingencies in a complete or partial manner and consequences, and control the likelihood of a response. The objective of this paper was to investigate the effect of antecedent verbal variables with and without autoclytics, consequents with autoclytics and nonverbal consequents, on the onset and maintenance of the behavior to choose varied foods for breakfast, considering the different food groups. To this end, twenty children aged between 10 and 12 were equally divided into five experiments with different arrangements as to the use of verbal and nonverbal variants. On the food choice table, there were four types of foods representing carbohydrates, two for fats and four for proteins, with a varied choice being considered as the response to choose at least two types of carbohydrates and proteins and one of fats. In all, ten different variables were tested in this study, with nine of them being verbal and one nonverbal, between antecedents and consequents, distributed among the experiments so as to maintain a balance of the number of phases in each one of them. There were antecedent variables with various degrees of description of the response the child was supposed to perform, each with different autoclytics, individually- and groupapplied variables and an aversive control variable. In some experiments we tried to reverse the phases using an antecedent variable with the phases which used a consequent variable, in order to establish a comparison as to their effectiveness in the onset and maintenance of the varied choice behavior. The main results indicate greater verbal control of consequent verbal variables with autoclytics and of antecedent variables with specific autoclytics and with detailed description of the response, which increases discriminability of the response-related stimuli and the likelihood of performing it. In addition to the assessment that components of the verbal variable may work better in controlling nonverbal behavior, the study evidences the important role played by social variables in the effectiveness of verbal control. It was identified, especially in experiment 5, that verbal control is higher in group, both regarding the change of behavior by all participants and its maintenance after verbal control was removed. General discussions on the results show that the food choice behavior seems to have been strongly settled along history, so that its alteration requires very specific verbal variables both antecedent and consequent

Food choices, food purchases and convenience food preparation by a group of mildly intellectually handicapped students are investigated. These students attend John Grant High School, in Lachine, Quebec, for continued academic intervention and vocational training. Results indicate most of these young adults make food choices based on a desire for good nutrition. There is a significant correlation (p $<$ 0.05) between nutrition knowledge and choosing nutritious foods in this sample. Yet the knowledge needed to make sound food choices is insufficient, as is the knowledge of food marketing. Families are the major influence on food selection and preparation, but as a source of information are found to be lacking. At school, home economics contributed most to students' knowledge of foods. Students found food preparation instructions particularly difficult to follow; students who had repeatedly prepared foods had greater success in producing an acceptable outcome. For this population practice is needed in making optimal food choices, menu planning and food preparation.

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Introduction: The importance of brands and the competition between private and national brands in different food categories increased in recent years. According to literature, except for packaging and price, there is virtually no difference between the contents of food products in the majority of private and national brands. Private brands are usually cheaper than national brands. Previous research indicated consumers’ preferences for private and national brand food products to differ between various products and in different regions. Objective: The aim of this study was thus to determine the relationship between consumers’ brand preferences for different food products, in relation to their demographics and psychographics in a South African context. Setting: A mall intercept, interviewer administered questionnaire was used as a quantitative method in this study in Potchefstroom in a South African context. Consumers’ preferences for private and national brand food products in different product categories were explored, using preference, psychographics and demographical questions simultaneously. Results: Respondents in this study preferred to purchase national brands in all products categories except for cooking oil. Considering eight psychographic factors that were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, two factors could be associated with positive reactions, while neutral reactions were evident for six factors. Respondents being indecisive on the majority of factors could be due to the fact that national brands were preferred for most products by respondents in the present study. Conclusions: Although brand preference depended on demographics and psychographics in previous research, the present study did not find significant relationships with psychographics when different products were used. Although a combination of demographic factors (mainly gender, education level, home language and employment status) could be useful in determining brand preference when used with specific products, home language and education level seem to be the most important factors. Therefore, brand preference depended on specific demographics for each product, while psychographic factors did not play a significant role. This implied that brand preference research should be product and region specific using specific demographic variables. / Thesis (M. Consumer Science)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Introduction: The importance of brands and the competition between private and national brands in different food categories increased in recent years. According to literature, except for packaging and price, there is virtually no difference between the contents of food products in the majority of private and national brands. Private brands are usually cheaper than national brands. Previous research indicated consumers’ preferences for private and national brand food products to differ between various products and in different regions. Objective: The aim of this study was thus to determine the relationship between consumers’ brand preferences for different food products, in relation to their demographics and psychographics in a South African context. Setting: A mall intercept, interviewer administered questionnaire was used as a quantitative method in this study in Potchefstroom in a South African context. Consumers’ preferences for private and national brand food products in different product categories were explored, using preference, psychographics and demographical questions simultaneously. Results: Respondents in this study preferred to purchase national brands in all products categories except for cooking oil. Considering eight psychographic factors that were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, two factors could be associated with positive reactions, while neutral reactions were evident for six factors. Respondents being indecisive on the majority of factors could be due to the fact that national brands were preferred for most products by respondents in the present study. Conclusions: Although brand preference depended on demographics and psychographics in previous research, the present study did not find significant relationships with psychographics when different products were used. Although a combination of demographic factors (mainly gender, education level, home language and employment status) could be useful in determining brand preference when used with specific products, home language and education level seem to be the most important factors. Therefore, brand preference depended on specific demographics for each product, while psychographic factors did not play a significant role. This implied that brand preference research should be product and region specific using specific demographic variables. / Thesis (M. Consumer Science)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-76).

p. 1-149 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-04-08T20:12:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Maria Albanita SEG.pdf: 769100 bytes, checksum: a3a881609e48c4cf30fec3dbc58b4f9b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Meirelles(rodrigomei@ufba.br) on 2013-04-09T17:28:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Maria Albanita SEG.pdf: 769100 bytes, checksum: a3a881609e48c4cf30fec3dbc58b4f9b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-09T17:28:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Maria Albanita SEG.pdf: 769100 bytes, checksum: a3a881609e48c4cf30fec3dbc58b4f9b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / A promoção de práticas saudáveis é sinalizada por políticas públicas de alimentação e nutrição como estratégia de prevenção e controle das Doenças Crônicas Não- Transmissíveis - DCNT, próprias da transição nutricional por que passa a população brasileira. Este propósito se baseia na “Estratégia Global em Dieta, Atividade Física e Saúde” da Organização Mundial de Saúde – EG/OMS, 2004. Estudos em diversos países destacam a ocorrência de DCNT em idade cada vez mais precoce e no Brasil o Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE - indica que 18% dos adolescentes apresentam sobrepeso e outros 2,3%, obesidade. Nesse sentido este estudo apresenta resultados de pesquisa qualitativa que identificou e analisou fatores formadores e de adaptação das preferências alimentares de um grupo de adolescentes de uma Escola Pública de Salvador, Bahia, visando compreender como esses fatores balizam as práticas alimentares deste grupo. A pesquisa foi realizada com 36 adolescentes, de 12 a 16 anos, matriculados do 7º ao 9º ano em uma escola pública municipal. O estudo, realizado de maio a julho de 2008, adotou a visita exploratória, a narrativa escrita e a entrevista em profundidade como procedimentos de coleta de dados. Para análise do material obtido utilizou-se a técnica de análise do conteúdo, contemplando a análise temática e a análise interpretativa de enunciação, com procedimentos de categorização, inferência, descrição e interpretação. Os resultados sugerem que as preferências alimentares dos adolescentes estão associadas a múltiplos fatores de formação e de adaptação.Têm sinergia com o lugar, o momento, a companhia e idade e assim sendo são: (1) distintas entre os indivíduos; (2) compartilham dimensões internas, através dos “fatores formadores” - hereditários, sentidos do gosto, do desejo, do prazer, da saúde e das emoções e (3) dimensões externas, através dos “fatores de adaptação” – família, seus pares, rede de comunicações e das condicionalidades da conveniência, estética corporal, status social, ambiência. O estudo constatou que, embora o preferir pelo aspecto sensorial seja fator preponderante nas escolhas alimentares, é também fator conflitante quando a necessidade de atender ao prazer do gosto deve ser equacionada com a necessidade de atender aos requisitos de uma boa saúde e nutrição. Outro conflito foi constatado quando o adolescente está à frente da escolha entre os alimentos que lhe proporcionam prazer pelo gosto e àqueles, aprendido no âmbito doméstico com seus pais como alimentos que “fazem bem à saúde! Faz crescer!”. Nesse sentido o prazer gera conflito com o dever de retribuição pelo respeito, cuidado, carinho, garantia de segurança que lhe são ofertados e conferem valores de forte influência familiar. Conclui-se a partir dos achados que os fatores relacionados às preferências alimentares dos adolescentes devem ser mais bem conhecidos, de forma a estimular a ação reflexiva de educadores, Nutricionistas e pais de modo que todos se sintam co-responsáveis pela construção de uma ambiência promotora de aprendizagem que possa fomentar no grupo livres escolhas alimentares de forma consciente e prazerosa. / Salvador

Orientador: Maria Aparecida Azevedo Pereira da Silva / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T02:26:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Neumann_Dora_D.pdf: 911952 bytes, checksum: 0a74640e759939b4409a9f22d1ce6246 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Adolescência é um estágio da vida do indivíduo marcado por intensas mudanças fisiológicas, cognitivas e sócio-culturais, que afetam seu comportamento alimentar e saúde. Práticas alimentares inadequadas representam riscos imediatos para a saúde do adolescente e trazem implicações negativas para a sua saúde na idade adulta. Consequentemente, estudos que avaliam o estado nutricional e a adequação do consumo dietético de adolescentes são importantes e têm sido realizados no Brasil. Entretanto, em pesquisas nacionais de avaliação do consumo dietético da população, a utilização das novas recomendações nutricionais, as Dietary References Intakes- DRIs, como valores de referência, são ainda raras. Por sua vez, a prática regular de atividades físicas apresenta uma relação inversa com os riscos de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis e tem um efeito positivo na qualidade de vida do indivíduo. Assim, é importante avaliá-la concomitantemente à avaliação do estado nutricional, do consumo dietético e das predisposições e tendências no consumo dos alimentos pelos indivíduos. Pelo exposto, o presente estudo teve como objetivos avaliar: i) o estado nutricional dos adolescentes do Colégio Técnico da UNICAMP, identificando riscos nutricionais, ii) o consumo alimentar dos mesmos e a adequação da ingestão dietética de macronutrientes e micro-nutrientes em relação às recomendações nutricionais preconizadas pelas Dietary References Intakes ¿DRIs. iii) o perfil de atividades físicas desempenhadas pelos adolescentes e, finalmente, iv) desenvolver uma escala para avaliar as crenças e atitudes de adolescentes em relação aos alimentos, segmentando o grupo estudado de acordo com seus critérios e estratégias na seleção dos alimentos consumidos. Participaram do estudo 160 adolescentes com idade entre 13 e 19 anos amostrados de uma população de 759 alunos. Tratou-se de um estudo transversal com tomada de medidas antropométricas de peso e estatura e realização de registro alimentar de 3 dias não consecutivos, sendo um deles de final de semana. Para a classificação do Índice de massa corporal (IMC), utilizou-se os pontos de corte por idade preconizados pela Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS, 1995). Os dados de consumo alimentar foram processados através do Programa Virtual Nutri. A prevalência de inadequação de nutrientes foi estimada utilizando-se o método ¿EAR como ponto de corte¿ preconizado pelo Food and Nutrition Board/Institute of Medicine (IOM) utilizando-se programas computacionais em linguagem SAS (versão 8.2). A normalidade dos dados foi testada pelo método Kolmogorov- Smirnov, realizando-se uma ANOVA para os cálculos da variância intrapessoal. A média de consumo de cada nutriente foi ajustada para remoção da variância intrapessoal elaborando-se a distribuição ajustada de cada nutriente para a estimativa da prevalência de inadequação. Dados de atividade física foram coletados através de questionário específico. Para a medida de crenças e atitudes desenvolveu-se uma escala de atitudes em relação à seleção dos alimentos consumidos, partindo-se de um levantamento qualitativo de itens sobre o tema entre os adolescentes, à partir do qual foram formulados os itens que compuseram a Escala Likert de atitudes do estudo. Nesta etapa participaram 182 adolescentes, os quais expressaram seu grau de concordância ou discordância de cada item da escala de atitudes elaborada utilizando uma escala mista de sete pontos (1= discordo muito, 7 = concordo muito). Os dados obtidos foram analisados utilizando-se médias, distribuições de freqüência, coeficiente de Pearson, Coeficiente alfa Cronbach , ANOVA, Teste de Tukey e Análise de Componentes Principais, utilizando o software SAS. Os resultados identificaram que 9,7% dos adolescentes do sexo feminino e 19,4% do sexo masculino apresentaram sobrepeso. Cerca de 29% das adolescentes apresentaram excesso no consumo de lipídeos enquanto 12% apresentaram deficiência no consumo de carboidratos. Entre os adolescentes de sexo masculino, verificou-se alta porcentagem (40,3%) com excesso de consumo de lipídeos e 16,4% com deficiência no consumo de carboidratos. O percentual médio de adequação da energia ingerida foi de 87,6% para o sexo feminino e de 75% para o sexo masculino. Para o sexo feminino foram verificadas inadequações no consumo de ácido fólico e magnésio em 100% da amostra de adolescentes, fósforo em 96,2%, Vit. E em 48,8%, zinco em 42,5% e Vit. C em 21,5%. Para o sexo masculino observaram-se percentuais de inadequações de 99,4% para ácido fólico e magnésio, de 40,5% para o fósforo, de 20,3% para a Vit. C e 15,9% para a Vit. E. O consumo médio de cálcio foi de 642,0 mg para o sexo feminino e de 851,6 mg para o sexo masculino, valores muito inferiores à Adequate Intake - AI (1300 mg) estabelecida para cálcio, sugerindo também alta deficiência no consumo deste nutriente. Entre os adolescentes, 20% dos indivíduos do sexo feminino e 30% do sexo masculino declararam omitir o desjejum, enquanto cerca de 50% dos adolescentes omitiam os lanches da manhã e tarde. Entre os adolescentes do sexo masculino predominaram atividades físicas intensas (73,1%) inclusive para aqueles com sobrepeso. Entre as adolescentes do sexo feminino predominaram atividades físicas moderadas (41,9%). A escala de atitudes sobre critérios utilizados pelos adolescentes para seleção dos alimentos consumidos foi composta por 34 itens abordando aspectos nutricionais e de saúde dos alimentos consumidos, aspectos sensoriais, facilidade de preparo, marca, influências de pais e amigos, entre outros. A escala apresentou um alfa Cronbach de 0,70. Análise de Componentes Principais associada a ANOVA e Teste de Tukey identificaram dois segmentos de adolescentes: o primeiro, correspondente a 49% dos indivíduos da amostra, que privilegiava os aspectos nutricionais e de saúde dos alimentos na seleção de suas dietas e outro, correspondente a 51% dos indivíduos que valorizava mais que o primeiro grupo, os aspectos sensoriais dos alimentos a serem consumidos, principalmente o sabor. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade de implementação de programas de educação nutricional junto aos adolescentes da Instituição visando habilitá-los a uma melhor seleção dos alimentos consumidos que permitam corrigir as inadequações nutricionais identificadas / Abstract: Adolescence is a period of an individual¿s life which is characterized by intense physiological, cognitive and social-cultural changes that can affect both alimentary behavior and health. Inadequate alimentary practices represent an immediate risk for an adolescent¿s health and produce negative health related implications during adult age. As a result, studies that evaluate the nutritional state and the adequacy of adolescent dietary consumptions are important. Although these studies have been conducted in Brazil, they rarely use the new nutritional recommendations (Dietary References Intakes or DRIs) as reference values. On the other hand, the regular practice of physical activities presents an inverse relation with non contagious chronic illnesses risks, and has a positive effect in the quality of an individual¿s life. For this reason, it is important to evaluate one¿s physical activity level, as well as, their nutritional state, dietary consumption and preferences and trends in food consumption. Accordingly, the present study had as it¿s main objectives to evaluate: i) the nutritional state of adolescents from Unicamp¿s technical secondary school, identifying nutritional risks; ii) the teenagers food consumption and their adequacy of macro and micronutrients ingestion in relation to the DRIs (Dietary References Intakes); iii) the adolescents physical activity profiles and, finally; iv) to develop a scale for evaluating the adolescents beliefs and attitudes in relation to foods. For item ¿iv¿ we aimed to segment the group under study in accordance to their criteria and strategies adopted for food selection. Thus, 160 adolescents, with age between 13 and 19 years, were chosen to participate in this study, from a population of 759 pupils. This was a transversal study in which anthropometric weight and height measurements were taken. Additionally, an alimentary registration questionnaire was applied in 3 not consecutive days, where one of such days was on a weekend. For the classification of the IMC, the OMS cutting age points (1995) were used. Moreover, the alimentary consumption data was processed through the Nutri Virtual program. The prevalence of nutrients inadequacy was estimated using the "EAR cut-point method¿ followed by the methodology specified by Food and Nutrition Board/ Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the statistical program SAS (version 8.2). The data¿s normal distribution was tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov method; ANOVA test was performed to estimate the intrapersonal variance. The average consumption of each nutrient was adjusted to remove the intrapersonal variance. This was done through the elaboration of an adjusted distribution of each nutrient with the purpose of estimating the prevalence of inadequacy. At the same time, data relating to physical activity habits was collected through a specific questionnaire. Finally, a scale of attitudes in relation to food selection was developed. The scale¿s items were based in a qualitative survey performed with the target adolescents. 182 adolescents participated in this study phase expressing their degree of agreement or disagreement with relation to each item from the aforementioned scale, using a category scale of seven points (1 = I disagree totally, 7 = I agree totally). The data collected was analyzed based on averages, distributions of frequency, Pearson coefficients, alpha Cronbach coefficients, ANOVA, Tukey tests and Principal Components Analysis through the use of the SAS software. The results identified that 9.7% of the female adolescents and 19.4% of the males were overweight. About 29% of the adolescents presented excess in lipids consumption while 12% presented deficiency in carbohydrate consumption. Of the male subjects, a high percentage (40.3%), was verified as being in the lipids consumption excess group and 16.4% presented carbohydrates consumption deficiency. The average percentage of ingested energy adequacy was 87.6% for the female subjects and 75.0% for the males. Additionally, female subjects¿ inadequacies were seen for folic acid and magnesium consumption (100% of the individuals), as well as for phosphorus (96.2%), for vit E (48.8%), for zinc (42.5%) and for vit C (21.5%). In its turn, males¿ inadequacies were detected for folic acid and magnesium consumption (99,4%) ,as well as for phosphorus (40.5%), for vit. C (20.3% ) and for vit. E (15.9%). Likewise, the average calcium consumption was 642.0 mg for the females and 851.6 mg for the males. These intakes are very low when compared to the Adequate Intake ¿ AI recommendations (1300 mg) established for calcium, suggesting high deficiency in this nutrient consumption. Among the adolescents, 20% of the females and 30% of the males declared to skip breakfast, while 50% of the individuals skipped morning and afternoon snacks. Among male adolescents, intense physical activities have predominated (73.1%), including the over-weighted individuals. In the other hand, moderate physical activities were predominant (41.9%) among female subjects. The scale of attitudes developed in this study contained 34 items related with nutritional and health aspects of foods, as well as their sensory aspects, easy-ofpreparation, food label, among others. The scale presented an alpha Cronbach of 0.70 and the Principal Components Analysis, the ANOVA and Tukey test of its data identified two segments of adolescents: the first segment, corresponded to 49% of the individuals, favored the nutritional and health aspects of the food when selecting them; the second segment, corresponded to 51% of the individuals, who valued the sensory aspects of the food, notably the flavor. These results point to the necessity of implementing a nutritional education program in this institution, in order to guide adolescents in making better food choices, and thus, to prevent nutritional inadequacies / Doutorado / Doutor em Tecnologia de Alimentos