Prevalência do baixo peso corporal, sobrepeso e obesidade em estudantes da rede pública de ensino do município de Jaçanã-RN.

Abstract

In recent years, the Brazilian population has undergone nutritional transition, that is, changes in the nutritional profile of the population with a marked increase in excess weight, concomitantly, with a reduction in the prevalence of malnutrition. This process has been affecting all phases of life, affecting more and more children and adolescents. These changes stem from changes in lifestyle and eating patterns, combined with physical inactivity, and a combination of economic, demographic and cultural factors in society. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity in students of the public school system of the city of Jaçanã, Rio Grande do Norte, the work was submitted and approved by the ethics committee. In this way, the weight and height of the students from four public schools of the mentioned municipality were measured and, after data collection, were evaluated in the growth curves of the (WHO) to obtain the nutritional status referring to indexes and specific indicators . Two programs Anthro PLUS® and SPSS® were used to obtain the results. The results showed a high number of overweight students in two age groups evaluated: 2 to 5 (0.00%) 5 to 10 (26.56%) and 10 to 15 years (29.27) and a number reduced in the percentile of thinness / malnutrition: 2 to 5 years (0.00%) 5 to 10 years (2.81%) and 10 to 15 years (3.66%). Such a condition can be justified by the nutritional transition that is taking place in developing countries. The nutritional status of (adequate) eutrophy was most evident in the majority of students: 2 to 5 years (100%) 5 to 10 years (70.63%) and 10 to 15 years (67.07%), of the school feeding program (PNAE) that provides adequate food in public schools full time while the student is in the school environment. Thus emphasizing the importance of anthropometric evaluation as a tool to assess nutritional status, it can in a simple and non-invasive way indicate the health and nutritional conditions of children, thus providing a better strategy for nutritional performance.