title: Nutritional status and body composition in Chilean preschool children attending day care centers.
abstract: Obesity increased in preschool children attending day care centers in Chile from 5% in 1985 to 10.8% in 2000. We assessed the nutritional status and body composition by deuterium dilution, in preschool children attending day care centers. In the whole group (n = 681), 3 to 5 year old children were classified according to weight-for-height (ZWH) and height-for-age (ZHA) Z scores from the NCHS reference. We found 28.5% overweight, 13.2% obese, and 18.6% deficient in height-for-age. From this group, 239 children were evaluated for total body water (TBW) and fat percentage. Normal children in this group have a lower percentage of water (59.6 +/- 3.9%) and higher fat (22.2 +/- 4.7%) than the reference child. The association between the percentage of fat and skinfolds' sum (tricipital, bicipital, suprailiac, subescapular), was greater for overweight and obese children (r = 0.70). At present, validation of anthropometric models to evaluate fat and water content is underway in Chile.
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D001827:Body Height; D001834:Body Water / Q000378:metabolism; D001835:Body Weight; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D003903:Deuterium / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012885:Skinfold Thickness
chemical_list: D003903:Deuterium