Resumo

DIAZ MARTINEZ, Ximena et al. Nutritional condition of school children according to physical exercising, feeding and schooling of the family. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2013, vol.39, n.4, pp. 640-650. ISSN 0864-3466.

Introduction: obesity in Chile affects 9.9 % of children under 6 years of age and increases to 22.4 % in overweight children. Objective: to determine the nutritional condition of boys and girls according to their physical exercising, the quality of their feeding and the schooling of the parents. Methods: two hundred fifty seven children of both sexes from public schools were evaluated. Their parents answered the questionnaires in terms of level of physical exercising, quality of feeding and schooling. Univariate and bivariate statistical analysis were applied by using absolute frequencies, percentages and the Chi-square test to evaluate data. Results: of 257 schoolchildren, 50 % were overweight. The nutritional condition was significantly related with the physical exercising (p< 0.01), but unrelated to food quality and schooling. This last variable would explain the food quality of the children (p< 0.01). Conclusions: the children of both sexes who presented with poor physical exercising reach 76 % in obesity and overweight if compared to 20 % overweight in children practicing regular exercising. Despite the lack of relationship between nutritional condition and food quality, the proportion of obese children in the group having good food quality was high. On the other hand, the high percentage of overweight in the school children may be explained by poor physical exercising rather than food consumption, although the majority stated that they kept good food quality.

Palavras-chave : nutritional condition; physical exercising; food quality; schooling index of family.

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