title: [Malnutrition and weight excess: a paradoxical condition in Mauretanian Adrar (author's transl)].
abstract: Data and comments from a survey conducted in Atar town with 3.534 individuals controlled. In children, kwashiorkor is rare but malnutrition is observed mainly in female babies between 1 and 3 years. It is caused by on the one hand a too late and too rapid weaning, and on the other hand to ancestral habits giving priority care to male babies. In adult populations, the main fact observed is an over-weight in women, with subsequently, a higher rate of blood hypertension and cerebro-vascular accidents than in men. This over-weight is a symbol of wealthiness and resorts to a traditional pattern of feminine beauty. Public health service and nutrition education can promote the use of a larger variety of foods which has little possibility of changing quickly an esthetic mode. But this concept will slowly recess, according to new ways of life.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008435:Mauritania; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D012737:Sex Factors
vernacular_title: Malnutrition et obésité. Une situation paradoxale dans l'Adrar mauritanien.