Índice de alimentación saludable en mujeres adolescentes de Morelos, México

Background: The instruments for the assessment of the quality of the diet in populations are scarce. One is The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) created in the United States in 1995. The aim of the present work was to assess the quality of the diet of adolescent women in the eastern area of the Morelos state, Mexico, adapting this index to the Mexican population. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study. Applied food consumption surveys with a 24-hour dietary recalls to 514 adolescents, in order to calculate the consumption of food according to the Mexican System of Food Equivalents and compared this with the age recommendations, the nutritional goals and the variety of the diet. Results: The average age of the group was 13.8 years (1.2). The Body Mass Index average of the participants was 20.3 kg/m² (3.2). Only 1% of the population has a diet of good quality, according to the recommendation for the age using the HEI. Conclusions: It was possible to evaluate the quality of the diet of the adolescents in the study by modifying the HEI, according to the Mexican population. 98.8% of the population studied had an unhealthy diet, or they need to make modifications to it.