Conhecimento e consumo de alimentos que contenham probióticos e prebióticos entre idosos universitários.

Abstract

This present research had the objective of studying the knowledge level of food consumption from meals full of prebiotic and probiotics between the elderly that attend the program “Third Age at UNISC”.This transversal research was done by a survey, with closed questions and answered individually, it was included 33 students from the program “Special Elderly Student of graduation from UNISC”, with ages between 60 and 85 years old, both men and women. 63,5 % of these, said that they did not know what probiotics and prebiotics are.Regard to the functional allegation of different foods, a great number of elderly (57,4%) did not know how to determine the specific benefits of meals with probiotic and prebiotic properties. The main benefit quoted was the improvement of the intestinal system, followed by the strenghtening of imuunologic system. In relation to the best means of publicizing to enlighten or inform the consumers about these meals, the more quoted options related by the interviewee were the schools and the universities (72,7%). The probiotic foods are not as consumed and known as the prebiotic ones, whose the main foods in a daily intake named were: onioin, banana and garlic. However, the probiotic meal Kombucha is the less known and the yogurt with microbial populations was the less consumed. In this sense, it is possible to affirm that the elderly’s low knowledge can be one of the main bareers for its consumption. Because of this, it is important to emphasize the importance of food education and nutrition in the “Third Age Program from UNISC”, because this is one way to improve and spread the knowledge about prebiotic and probiotic meals, as well as the elderly start to think about the eating habits and consider about the importance of alimentation in the health, allowing a change and a return of the traditional one.