Nutritional status, food consumption and physical activity among Chilean school children: a descriptive study

Abstract

Objective: To assess the nutritional status, food consumption and physical activity (PA) habits of Chilean school children, as a baseline for developing an educational intervention. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: A total of 1701 children from 3rd to 7th grade in nine schools located in three geographical regions. Methods: We determined body mass index, food consumption (quantified FFQ which we categorised into five groups), PA in terms of TV viewing and frequency of after school PA. The data were analysed according to age, nutritional status and gender. A logistic regression analysis was performed using obesity as outcome. Results: Obesity was higher among boys; younger children presented higher prevalence in both genders. Daily intake of dairy products varied between 240 and 308 g, fruits/vegetables, between 197 and 271 g, energy-dense foods between 343 and 460 g. In all, 22.3 and 47% of the children watched over 3 h of TV during the week and weekend, respectively. Older children watched significantly more TV during the week, while on weekends all children increased this time significantly. Boys were more active than girls after school. The logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between obesity and low intake of dairy products. Conclusions: Prevalence of obesity among Chilean children is high. Although TV time, intake of energy dense foods and fruits/ vegetables appeared as risk factors for obesity, only dairy consumption was significantly associated with obesity. Sponsorship: FAO

Nutritional profile of schoolchildren from different socio-economic levels in Santiago, Chile

“…Atalah et al (8) and Yañez et al (32) found similar results to ours in terms of consumption by applying an FFQ in a sample of children from low SEL. This has been confirmed recently by Olivares et al (9) . In a more recent study Olivares et al measured food intake by means of an FFQ in 204 girls of medium-high SEL and 358 girls of high SEL (24) .…”

School-based obesity prevention in Chilean primary school children: methodology and evaluation of a controlled study

“…to calculate the sample size in both groups was obtained from existing information on children of similar age in Chile and is consistent with other international data. 16,17 t-Tests for independent samples and nonparametric Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to assure comparability of anthropometric and fitness measurements between groups at baseline. The effect of the program was analyzed using a mixed model analysis of covariance, adjusting for gender and baseline value, estimating the relative changes observed in the two groups, over the 6-month study period.…”

Estado Nutricional Y Composición Corporal en Escolares De La Serena, Chile

“…Esta diferencia podría estar dada por el uso de distintas referencias (22), no obstante, y dado que a nivel nacional sólo se consideraron escolares de primero medio y en este estudio escolares de quinto a octavo básico, diferencia que también podría estar relacionado con el desarrollo puberal. Sin embargo ambos estudios concuerdan en que la prevalencia de obesidad es mayor a menor edad y en varones, situación que se corrobora en otro estudio realizado en escolares en Chile (18).…”

“…En nuestro país la información del estado nutricional de los escolares, proviene de la Junta Nacional Auxilio Escolar y Beca (JUNAEB), datos que se obtienen de las escuelas, y que corresponden a los escolares de 1° básico (edades entre 6 y 7 años) y 1° medio (edades entre 14 y 15 años), y que indican al año 2013 una alta prevalencia de obesidad en ambos grupos, llegando a un 25,3% y 12,3 %, respectivamente (13), situación similar a lo encontrado en diferentes estudios realizados en nuestro país para esta población (14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”