Anthropometric and cycloergometric assessment of the nutritional status of the children of agricultural migrant workers in Southern Brazil

Abstract

In our survey of the food habits and nutritional status of "Boia-Fria" agricultural migrant workers in Southern Brazil, a special project was undertaken to assess the influence of socioeconomic and dietary deprivation on the physical growth and development and physical performance of their children. Four hundred fifty-five children in Boia-Fria families from Vila Recreio, a periurban slum of Ribeirao Preto located in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo, were examined for body weight, standing height, mid-upper arm muscle circumference, and head circumference. For comparison, 475 children from "Vita et Pax", a private school attended primarily by children of well-to-do families from the city of Ribeirao Preto, were also examined using similar anthropometric procedures. A small group of selected Boia-Fria children and their well-to-do counterparts were subjected to ergometric-cum-electrocardiographic testing for submaximal physical work performance. The overall results of this comparative study indicate that the physical growth and development and the physical performance of the Boia-Fria children are significantly lower than their well-to-do counterparts. It is suggested that the poor anthropometric and ergometric status of the Boia-Fria children is a reflection of poor dietary habits and socioeconomic deprivation prevalent among the agricultural migrant workers and poor periurban populations of Brazil.

The relationships between selected anthropometric and socio-economic data in schoolchildren from different social strata in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…This fact has also been demonstrated in Brazilian pre-school children by other surveys 5,9 . This might be due to reduced care as regards food distribution within the family.…”

“…The food energy supply of the low-income group is often too low to meet biological requirements, whereas in the case of middle-income group calory intake seems to be too high. This differentiation was also found in other schoolchildren in the State of São Paulo 5 and Recife 10 and pupils in Colombia As has already been mentioned, there are many statistically significant relationships between the observed socio-economic variables and the anthropometric data of the children when all children are grouped together. This is due mainly to the different socio-economic conditions in the communities of children from schools 1-5 and children from school 6.…”

“…However, little information is available on the nutritional status of schoolchildren in Brazil 2,5,10 . The present study has the following objectives:…”

Catch-Up Growth during Adolescence

“…The impact of the various forms of malnutrition on growth in infancy and childhood has been studied in detail [27][28][29], Much less is known about the effect of malnutrition in infancy and childhood on adolescent growth. There is strong evidence that malnutrition causes a delay in the onset of pubertal growth and devel opment [30][31][32][33][34][35].…”

Índices antropométricos e estado nutricional de escolares de baixa renda de um município do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brasil): um estudo piloto

“…As mé-dias de peso e altura das crianças de Nova Iguaçu parecem ser superiores aos das crianças do Estado da Paraíba, apresentados por Cariri Benigna e col. 3 , mas se comparam aos de crianças nordestinas moradoras em zonas metropolitanas 3 . A diferença no crescimento de crianças de classes sócio-econômicas diferentes no mesmo país já foi bastante documentada internacionalmente 4,5,7,9,14,20 . Os valores médios de peso e altura desse estudo são comparáveis aos de crianças americanas de descendência mexicana, da cidade de Brownsville, Texas, EUA, publicados por Zavaleta e Malina 25 , o que poderia indicar que apesar das condições ambientais serem possivelmente melhores naquela população, os fatores nutricionais de influência no retardo do crescimento dos dois grupos de crianças possam se assemelhar.…”