Implications of the prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity amongst South African primary school children: a possible nutritional transition?

Jinabhai, C C; Taylor, Myra; Sullivan, Keith

doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601534

Cited by 62 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The South African National Primary Schools' Anthropometric Survey (Department of Health, 1994;Jinabhai et al, 2003) used data from South African children sampled in 1994 and the second used data from South African children sampled in -2004(Armstrong et al, 2006.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Secular trends in the prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity among South African children (1994–2004)

Armstrong

Lambert

2011

Eur J Clin Nutr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background/Objectives: Various nutrition programs and free health care for children less than 6 years old were introduced in South Africa in the mid-1990s. We aim to describe secular trends for nutritional status of South African (SA) children in the 10-year period following these reforms. Subjects/Methods: The SA National Primary Schools' Anthropometric Survey (n ¼ 105 000) is a cross-sectional survey of children from all SA Education Departments sampled during 1994. The Health of the Nation Study (n ¼ 10 295) is a crosssectional study, including children from primary schools in five SA Provinces sampled from 2001 to 2004. Height and weight of SA children were measured during both surveys. In 8-11 year olds, the National Centre for Health Statistics reference was used to calculate the prevalence of mild and moderate stunting, and overweight and obesity were calculated according to the International Obesity Task Force reference. Coexistence of stunting, overweight and obesity among these two age-and sexmatched cohorts were also calculated. Results: When compared with previous SA data, moderate stunting (24.6-4.9%, Po0.001) decreased over the 7-10 years considered, whereas overweight (1.2-13.0%, Po0.001) and obesity (0.2-3.3%, Po0.001) prevalence increased. There were lower levels of mild stunting and similar levels of moderate stunting among overweight/obese children when compared with non-overweight/non-obese children. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that feeding policies may have been effective in reducing the prevalence of under-nutrition. However, inter-sectoral policies should recognize the apparent secular trend for an increased prevalence in overweight/obesity among young South Africans.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Urbanization and poor screening for inclusion in nutritional supplementation programs are thought to be the main causes of the coexistence of conditions associated with lack of nutritional resources and those associated with excess (Uauy and Kain, 2002;Jinabhai et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secular trends in the prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity among South African children (1994–2004)

Armstrong

Lambert

2011

Eur J Clin Nutr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The burden of noncommunicable diseases is growing in South Africa where a complex mix of both overnutrition and undernutrition can be found (2) . This has resulted in nutrition-related conditions such as underweight and overweight/obesity coexisting in South African primary schools (3) .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What's in the lunchbox? Dietary behaviour of learners from disadvantaged schools in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abrahams

Villiers

Steyn

et al. 2011

Public Health Nutr.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To identify and describe factors associated with food shop (known as tuck shop in South Africa) and lunchbox behaviours of primary-school learners in South Africa. Design: Analysis of data collected in 2008 from a cross-sectional survey. Setting: Sixteen primary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Subjects: A total of 717 grade 4 learners aged 10-12 years. Results: A 24 h recall established that 69 % of learners carried a lunchbox to school and 49 % had consumed at least one item purchased from the school food shop/ vendor. Most lunchboxes contained white bread with processed meat, whereas the most frequent food shop/vendor purchase comprised chips/crisps. Learners who carried a lunchbox to school had significantly lower BMI percentiles (P 5 0?002) and BMI-for-age (P 5 0?034), compared with their counterparts. Moreover, they were younger, had higher standard-of-living and dietary diversity scores, consumed more meals per day, had greater self-efficacy and came from predominantly urban schools, compared with those who did not carry a lunchbox to school. Learners who ate food shop/vendor purchases had a lower standard-of-living score and higher dietary diversity and meal scores. Only 2 % of learners were underweight, whereas 19 % were stunted and 21 % were overweight/obese (BMI $ 25 kg/m 2 ). Conclusions: Children who carried a lunchbox to school appeared to have greater dietary diversity, consumed more regular meals, had a higher standard of living and greater nutritional self-efficacy compared with those who did not carry a lunchbox to school.

show abstract

“…Compared with other studies that identified childhood overweight and obesity using weight-for-height Z-score cut-off points, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children from this population is low in relation to other developing and developed countries and similar to that observed in less developed countries in Latin America 4,[23][24][25] . One study conducted in Argentina reported an obesity prevalence in children aged 24-72 months of 7.03%, ranging from 2.3% to 17.0%.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

Nutritional status of the Andean population of Puna and Quebrada of Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina

Romaguera

Sammán

Farfán

et al. 2008

Public Health Nutr.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To assess the nutritional status of the Andean population of Puna and Quebrada of Humahuaca, Jujuy, using anthropometric measurements. Design and subjects: A cross-sectional nutritional survey was carried out in a representative sample (n 5 1236) of individuals from these regions. Children aged 2-9 years, adolescents (10-17 years) and adults ($18 years; pregnant and lactating women excluded) were considered. Height-for-age, weight-for-height and body mass index (BMI) were calculated in children and adolescents and compared with World Health Organization/National Center for Health Statistics/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reference standards using Z-scores or percentiles, in order to assess the prevalence of stunting, wasting/thinness and excess weight. In adults, BMI, waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip (WHR) ratio were used to identify obesity and central adiposity.Results: Stunting (height-for-age Z-score ,-2 standard deviations) and obesity (BMI $ 95th percentile) were found to be major nutritional problems in children and adolescents. Stunting was prevalent in 10.7% of children and 12.4% of adolescents; 8.2% of children and 3.5% of adolescents were obese. Adults were short (mean: 155.8 cm) and values of overweight (32.3%), obesity (18.3%) and central adiposity (mean WC: 86.5 cm) were high. Older adults and those with higher economic development showed higher prevalence of obesity and central adiposity.Conclusions: The present population may be at the early stages of nutritional transition as symptoms of undernutrition and overnutrition coexist at the population level. These results suggest that rates of growth retardation may be decreasing owing to improved nutritional conditions; however, this could be accompanied by a sharp increase in the prevalence of other diet-related chronic diseases.

show abstract

Implications of the prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity amongst South African primary school children: a possible nutritional transition?

Cited by 62 publications

References 11 publications

Secular trends in the prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity among South African children (1994–2004)

Secular trends in the prevalence of stunting, overweight and obesity among South African children (1994–2004)

What's in the lunchbox? Dietary behaviour of learners from disadvantaged schools in the Western Cape, South Africa

Nutritional status of the Andean population of Puna and Quebrada of Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About