Rela？？o entre renda e consumo alimentar habitual de β-caroteno, vitamina C e vitamina E de crian？as

objective examining the relationship between family income and daily b-carotene, vitamin c and vitamin e consumption amongst children in the city of jo？o pessoa / pb, brazil. method one hundred and eighty-three children aged 2 to <10 years were evaluated, in a sample stratified by income level which was representative of the population of joao pessoa. the research instrument consisted of questionnaires addressing socio-economic, demographic, epidemiological, anthropometric and food consumption variables. the results were analysedby using r software, using descriptive (mean, median, standard-deviation, simple and relative frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression). results participants were predominantly male (55 %) from income classes e (up to us$ 428.64) and c (> us$ 622.31-us$ 2,682.93) and mothers who had studied for nine years or more. regarding vitamin intake, there was low vitamin c inadequacy (8 %) and high vitamin e inadequacy (59 %), the latter being more frequent in the 4-8 year-old age group (33 % of children). there was an inverse correlation between income and energy intake (r=-0.1525, p<0.05) and between income and vitamin e consumption (r=-0.3, p<0.05). the relationship between income and maternal education (p<0.05), between income and b-carotene consumption and between income and vitamin c consumption was significantly positive (r=0.33 and r=0.28, respectively, p<0.05). conclusion it was concluded that consuming vitamins having antioxidant properties was positively related to family income regarding vitamin c and b-carotene and negatively related regarding vitamin e and calories.