Anthropometry and lifestyle of children and adolescent in inland of Northeastern Brazil

Brazil is going through a nutritional transition, which is observed decrease in malnutrition and increased excess weight. Objective: To evaluate the nutritional status and lifestyle of school children and adolescents from 4 to 17 years old resident in the interior of the Brazilian Northeast. Methods: This is a longitudinal study performed in two stages. The first stage took place during the School Health Program and anthropometric data were collected from 975 schoolchildren. In the second stage, it was used a questionnaire to assess lifestyle and diet. Participants were classified into “not overweight” and “overweight”. The significant level for the statistical tests was set at 5%. Results: In the first stage, less than 2% of students had low height for age. The prevalence of overweight and malnutrition was 22.15% and 5.23%, respectively.  Of the 134 participants of the second stage, 47.76% were not overweight and 52.24% overweight. Regarding the lifestyle, the not overweight group had a higher percentage of insufficiently active members (p = 0.017) and a lower intake of vegetables and salads (p=0.015). Conclusions: The results revealed low short stature in the population studied and overweight was more prevalent than malnutrition. Children and adolescents had sedentary habits that associated with inappropriate dietary practices favor the occurrence of overweight.