Perfil nutricional de crianças assistidas em ambiente escolar no município de João Pessoa/PB

Abstract

For the growth of a child is progressive and that it develop their psychomotor and social skills, nutritional status has the same fundamental role, as the deficit or excess of changes expose it to potential risks of harm to health. The last three national surveys point to the decline in the prevalence of malnutrition and increasing obesity in populations, including children. The School of Basic Education, to be an institutional space, is considered ideal for developing nutrition and food education activities. Thus, this work includes the need to develop a monitoring service of the nutritional status of children in a school. This research aimed to determine the nutritional status of children assisted by a secondary school in the city of João Pessoa. Cross-sectional study in Basic Education School of the Federal University of Paraíba, Campus I, where were evaluated through weight and height, 116 children aged 24- 155 months old. The data, collected from August to October 2014 were analyzed in accordance with the appropriate parameters for each age group, through the indexes Weight/Height, Weight/Age, Height/Age and BMI/Age. The results of this study show that most of the students involved in the study has adequate nutritional status, however, a significant portion of the sample is above the considered ideal parameters, confirming the nutritional transition process occurred in Brazil and the importance of implementation measures to prevent and / or treat obesity.