Anthropometric normality in adults: the geographical and socio-economic paradox of the nutritional transition in Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: to consolidate secondary data and provide some as yet unpublished information on changes in the nutritional status of Brazilian children, and, principally, adults, from an anthropometrical point of view as evaluated in the course of the most recent surveys, laying emphasis on geographical and socio-economic features. METHODS: tables and graphs were used to consolidate data published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and from other sources, along with estimates for results not included in these original documents. Preliminary data from two as yet unpublished studies were also included. RESULTS: it was shown that, alongside the decline in malnutrition in children there are signs of an epidemic increase in obesity and overweight in adults. This is characteristic of the change in epidemiological profile associated with the nutritional transition. There is an apparent paradox that the highest frequencies for normal anthropometric measurements in adults were found in the poorer North and Northeast regions of Brazil. These results were even found in localities with very low indices for human development in the Northeast region. The best anthropometric situation for adult populations in Brazil was found in families with a low income (less than ¼ of one minimum wage per household per capita, with a prevalence rate twice as high among adult males in comparison with the higher household income group). CONCLUSIONS: the results for nutritional anthropo-metry among adults, showing more normal measurements among the low-income population, reflect a peculiar phase in epidemiological terms in the process of the nutritional transition in the country, which constitutes a paradox arising in these specific circumstances, which is probably temporary.

Insegurança Alimentar e estado nutricional de crianças de São João do Tigre, no semi-árido do Nordeste

“…O que de fato parece surpreender nos resultados é a elevada prevalência de normalidade antropométrica das crianças, segundo os índices peso/idade e peso/altura (IMC), alcançando valores que seriam aceitáveis como normais de acordo com o próprio padrão internacional de referência 30 , o que seria, em princípio, um contra-senso epidemiológico: a coexistência de um risco praticamente generalizado de insegurança alimentar com um quadro excepcionalmente favorável de normalidade antropométrica nas crianças. Aliás, este aparente paradoxo já foi assinalado a partir de resultados recentes, caracterizando um momento peculiar do rápido processo de transição epidemiológica que ocorre no Brasil 31 .…”

High Prevalence of Anemia in Children and Adult Women in an Urban Population in Southern Brazil

“…A recent systematic review on all studies on the prevalence of anemia in Brazil has shown that for children under the age of 5 the median anemia prevalence in the entire country is 53% [7]. Surprisingly, there is also evidence for an increasing prevalence of anemia and obesity, which has been attributed to a “nutrition transition” observed in Brazil [8]. There are few published studies on the prevalence of anemia in fertile, non-pregnant women in Brazil.…”

Percepção da imagem corporal e nível socioeconômico em adolescentes: revisão sistemática

“…Neste contexto, investigações epidemiológicas recentes na população brasileira (1,2) observaram uma espécie de transição epidemiológica, na qual um aumento na prevalência de doenças crônico-degenerativas, especialmente nas populações com baixo nível socioeconômico, vem sendo identificado.…”