Nutrition in schoolchildren in Cali

Abstract

A sample of 1865 students aged between 7 and 14 years old was randomly selected from different socioeconomic statuses to study the nutritional status of the students in Cali, Colombia. Z score was used to evaluate their nutritional status: height for age, weight for age, and weight for height. The results were compared with the National Center for Health Statistics reference (NCHS). For the obesity evañuation it was used the body mass index (BMI) and the triceps SKINS fold. Results showed that of all the children, 50% showed some risk of malnutrition due to their height. Although only 2.85% were in the high-risk group for this parameter, 57% of these children showed the risk of malnutrition for weight, but only 0.44% showed a high risk for this parameter. The highest risk for malnutrition was found in the low class, with a tendency to decrease in the middle and high classes. For the three socioeconomic levels, it was found that the Z score height decreased with age. A total of 28% of the high class and 10% of the low class could be considered obese, according to the triceps skin fold results. The BMI showed a major standard deviation in the high class and significant differences among the three socioeconomic levels.