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Background: Nutritional transition has been described in various countries, each showing inherent characteristics. Furthermore, different patterns also appear within the same country., Aim: To compare the nutritional status of schoolchildren, of both sexes, living in two Argentine cities with different urban and environment characteristics, from the perspective of nutritional transition., Subjects and Methods: The sample comprised 5355 children (6-13 years) living in Puerto Madryn (Chubut) and General Alvear (Mendoza), Argentina. Weight and height were transformed into Z-scores according to NHANES I- II; underweight, stunting and wasting defined by - 2 SD and overweight and obesity calculated according the cut-off proposed by IOTF. Prevalences of nutritional status were estimated., Results: Comparison of the two cities revealed significant χ² values for the indicators of nutritional status analysed. Puerto Madryn had higher prevalences of overweight and obesity. General Alvear exhibited higher stunting and underweight values., Conclusions: The cities studied are in different stages of nutritional transition. Puerto Madryn is undergoing growing industrialization and urbanization and thus exhibits characteristics typical of an 'obesogenic' environment. General Alvear, a less complex urban centre, where some cultural patterns related to an agrarian way of life appear to have been retained, is situated at a less advanced stage.

We analyzed the nutritional status of urban and rural schoolchildren from Mendoza (Argentina), but avoided rural and urban categorization by generating subpopulations as a function of their socioenvironmental characteristics. We transformed weight and height data into z-scores using the CDC/NCHS growth charts; defined underweight, stunting, and wasting by z-scores of less than -2 SD; and calculated overweight and obesity, according to the cutoff proposed by the International Obesity Task Force. Socioenvironmental characteristics included housing, public services, parental resources, and farming practices; we processed these variables by categorical principal-component analysis. The two first axes defined four subgroups of schoolchildren: three of these were associated with urban characteristics, while the remaining subgroup was considered rural. Nutritional status differed across groups, whereas overweight was similar among the groups and obesity higher in urban middle-income children. Urban differences were manifested mainly as underweight, but rural children exhibited the greatest stunting and wasting. Thus, the negative effects of environment on nutritional status in children are not restricted to poor periurban and rural areas, though these are indeed unfavorable environments for growth: some urban families provide children with sufficient quantity and diversity of foods to expose them to obesity. By contrast, the more affluent urban families would appear to have greater possibilities for allowing their children to adopt a healthy life-style. Although the causes of differences in nutritional status between middle- and high-income urban groups are not clear, these determinants probably involve economic as well as educational influences., (Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)