Abstract

The lifestyle of adolescents can lead to eating habits and preferences least healthy that can cause overweight and obesity, making this a present and future risk factor for the development of chronic diseases. The Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest eating models for its association to a greater hope of life and protection of chronic diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the nutritional status and adherence to the Mediterranean diet of a group of Chilean adolescents that reside in homes of housing families. The design of the study was descriptive crossectional. Participants were 40 adolescents of both sexes between 14 and 22 years of age, who for study moved to the city to live in homes of host families. For the evaluation of the nutritional status, anthropometric measurements were made and the KIDMED test was applied to evaluate the grade of adherence to the mediterranean diet. The results indicate that 50% of the adolescents in the study present ed malnutrition due to excess and low adherence to the Mediterranean diet. In conclusion most adolescents present malnutrition for excess; and their feeding stride far from the recommendations of a healthy and protective diet as the Mediterranean diet. Key words: adolescents, anthropometric;