[Evaluation of the diet of women attended by the Chilean Public Health System]. / Evaluación de la alimentación en mujeres atendidas por el sistema de salud público chileno.

The purpose of this study was to assess the diet quality of women from the Chilean Public Health System, through the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). It was studied a stratified sample of 258 women. The mean HEI score was 69.06 +/- 10.44, classifying the food with "needs improvement", less than 70 percent of compliance of specific recommendations. Variables with lower score were vegetables and simple sugars. The HEI showed no differences between social strata, while the findings showed differences between some components. Adolescent achieved the goals of consumption of cereals, vegetables and meat. Less educated women consumed more cereals and dairy products. The poorest women had better score of Sodium and rural women in dairy and sodium. No association was found between nutritional status and HEI. The protective factor for the food quality was the number of health controls during pregnancy. The findings showed that high proportion of women needs changes in her food habits. The HEI can be used for population studies and is effective to assess the effectiveness of policies and health promotion programs. It can help focalize to educational programs to specific goals.