Introduction:

The prevalence of overweight and obesity at an early age is growing in epidemic proportions and becoming a public health concern-in both developed and developing countries.

Objectives:

To analyze and describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children from a city in the interior of a region of southeastern Brazil.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and inferential study, in which 263 children from ten to fifteen years of age were observed, 147 being male and 116 female. Students enrolled in two municipal public elementary schools participated in the study. The anthropometric measurements were made following the international recommendations of the International Standards for Kinanthropometric Assessment and the body mass index (BMI) was determined using the formula suggested by the World Health Organization.

Results:

In terms of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among boys and girls, it was found that 23,2% of the students were overweight and that 12.2% were overweight. However, when stratified by sex, overweight and obesity were more frequent in girls (27,6% - 9,5%), than in boys (19,7% - 15,5%), respectively.

Conclusion:

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the students of this research was high, demonstrating the need for prevention and intervention programs.

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