Abstract

Chile has undergone an epidemiological and nutritional transition. In children, there has been an important decline in the rates of nutritional deficit, measured as weight/height (W/H) and height/age (H/A) with a corresponding increase in the prevalences of overweight and obesity. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these changes and present the results to the institutions in charge of large scale food programs to act accordingly with the current nutritional situation of their beneficiaries. This is a descriptive population-based study, which utilized the data collected by the nutritional information systems operating within the two programs with the widest coverage, the Complementary Feeding and the School Feeding Programs. The beneficiaries of the first one are infants and preschoolers, and although those of the second one are primary and secondary school children, the system only collects data on first graders. Results show that in terms of W/H, the percentage of undernourished children was already very low in 1985 and almost inexistent by 1995. With regard to growth retardation, 9.6% of children under 6 and 11% of children in first grade were stunted a decade ago. This proportion declined considerably, and is presently a problem only in 4.8% of first graders. Stunting in this group increases with age and was found to be more common among boys. With respect to nutritional excess, obesity rates have increased rapidly, 56% in children under 6. Among children in first grade, these prevalences are presently high and range from 11.1% to 14.3% according to age. This rapid change in nutrition, from deficit to excess, should be taken into account by policy makers not only to adjust the current nutrition programs but to promote a healthy lifestyle in other ambits.