Prevalence of overweight and obesity in public schools of Distrito Federal

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in public schools of Distrito Federal Objective: To assess the children's nutritional status of public schools of DF. Materials and Methods: 347 children of both sexes, aged between 6 and 10 years underwent anthropometric measurements, using the body mass index for age (BMI / A), and to answer questionnaires related to the consumption of soft drinks and snacks in general. Through the weight to height squared, we calculated the body mass index of the parents of each child. Results: Among the 347 children studied there was biger participation from 6 to 7 years (boys and girls respectively). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 25.12% in girls and 25.6% for boys. Compared to questionnaires, 64% of children reported not doing physical activity, 98% consume soft drinks weekly and 82% snack during class. It was observed that 57% of children had at least one parent with BMI above the normal range and 17% met with father and mother above the recommended level (18.5 kg/m(2) 24kg/m(2)). Discussion: We found that increased consumption of calorie snacks with high fat content and lack of physical activity may be contributing to the increase in childhood obesity. Conclusion: With that physical activity and changes in eating habits are of prime importance for the prevention of obesity.