Food consumption in healthcare workers: the influence of shift work on nutritional status

Introduction: Healthcare workers are exposed to long working hours. Circadian disorders can lead to poor eating control. Objective: To evaluate the frequency of food consumption and show self-reported comorbidities, nutritional status and work shifts of health professionals. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study, carried out with 561 employees. Data collection occurred after approval by the Research Ethics Committee. To evaluate food consumption, the daily average consumption of the 3 food groups was obtained: 1- processed and/or predictors of cardiovascular risk; 2- ultra-processed and/or major predictors of cardiovascular risk and 3- fresh or minimally processed and/or protective. Results: 64.14% were overweight. Group 3 had a higher average consumption. The presence of comorbidities was not associated with food consumption. Group 1 was associated with the work shift. Conclusion: Excess weight may be related to a sedentary lifestyle. Possible omission of answers may justify greater consumption of healthy foods; those processed by night shift workers can cause harm to health. Reinforcing guidelines on healthy practices are important.