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Objectives: to consolidate secondary data and provide some as yet unpublished information on changes in the nutritional status of Brazilian children, and, principally, adults, from an anthropometrical point of view as evaluated in the course of the most recent surveys, laying emphasis on geographical and socio-economic features. Methods: tables and graphs were used to consolidate data published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and from other sources, along with estimates for results not included in these original documents. Preliminary data from two as yet unpublished studies were also included. Results: it was shown that, alongside the decline in malnutrition in children there are signs of an epidemic increase in obesity and overweight in adults. This is characteristic of the change in epidemiological profile associated with the nutritional transition. There is an apparent paradox that the highest frequencies for normal anthropometric measurements in adults were found in the poorer North and Northeast regions of Brazil. These results were even found in localities with very low indices for human development in the Northeast region. The best anthropometric situation for adult populations in Brazil was found in families with a low income (less than 1/4 of one minimum wage per household per capita, with a prevalence rate twice as high among adult males in comparison with the higher household income group). Conclusions: the results for nutritional anthropometry among adults, showing more normal measurements among the low-income population, reflect a peculiar phase in epidemiological terms in the process of the nutritional transition in the country, which constitutes a paradox arising in these specific circumstances, which is probably temporary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence and risk factors associated with vitamin A deficiency (VAD) were analyzed in 664 mothers and their 790 children under the age of five in Pernambuco in 2006. A population-based cross-sectional study, with a representative sample in urban and rural areas was conducted. VAD was defined as serum retinol levels < 20 mg/dL for both groups (mothers and children). Bi and multivariate analysis were performed using the complementary log-log model as a link function adopting a model of explanatory hierarchical order of VAD to children and a logistic model for mothers. The prevalence of VAD was 6.9% in mothers and 16.1% in their children, with similar statistics for urban and. rural groups. In the urban area, the housing occupation regime had a significant association with VAD in mothers. After the final adjustment of the model for urban children, the mother's age, the number of pre-natal consultations and birth weight were featured as predictive variables. In rural areas, VAD in mothers is associated with VAD in children; PR= 3.99 (95% CI:1.73-9.19), with their birth weight and the incidence of diarrhea in the previous 15 days. VAD continues to be a public health issue in the state of Pernambuco, with marked variations in prevalence and associated factors in mothers and children.

The scope of this study was to evaluate trends in the temporal evolution of anemia in students ranging from the ages of 7 to 11 in Várzea district (Recife-PE) based on three reports concluded in 1982, 2001 and 2005. An evaluation was achieved in ten public schools in the first study and nine in the last two (one was shut down), in a sample of 305 students (1982), 684 students (2001) and 756 students (2005). Hemoglobin was determined in blood samples taken by venopunction, having two criteria to describe anemia: cut points < 12 g/dL and < 11.5 g/dL. By the first criteria, the prevalence of anemia increased from 8.8% in 1982 to 18.9% in 2001, decreasing to 13.4% in 2005. In the last evaluation, the problem of anemia practically disappeared starting from the age of 9. The evolution of anemia revealed two very different trends: marked elevation in the first phase (1982 to 2001) and a rapid decrease in the second stage (2001 to 2005).

Prevalence of anemia and associated factors were analyzed in mothers (n = 1,022) and their children under 5 years of age (n = 1,242) in Pernambuco State, Brazil, 2006. This was a cross-sectional population-based study with a probabilistic sample in an urban and rural area. Anemia was diagnosed by hemoglobin level (children < 11.0 g/dL, women < 12.0 g/dL) using HemoCue. Univariate and multivariate analyses used Poisson regression with robust adjustment of standard error, adopting a hierarchical model for determination in children with anemia as the outcome. This same procedure was not applied to mothers because of the small number of associated factors in the univariate analyses. Anemia prevalence was 16.4% in mothers and 34.4% in children. Anemic as compared to non-anemic mothers showed a prevalence ratio of 1.44 (95%CI: 1.21-1.72) for anemia in their children, maintaining similar values in the adjusted model (PR = 1.39: 95%CI: 1.16-1.66). Anemia prevalence in children was double that of mothers, with the final model showing only one common factor: per capita family income.

The aim of this study was to analyze the growing prevalence of anemia and overweight/obesity as contrasting trends in Brazil's nutritional transition. Twenty-eight studies published on anemia in children and childbearing-age women were selected, based on statistical representativeness, standardization of laboratory methods, and World Health Organization criteria. Overweight/obesity in adults was assessed by body mass index: 25 to 29.9 kg/m(2) (overweight) and > or =30 kg/m(2) (obesity). Three surveys were compared for analysis of tendencies: 1974/1975 (36.4%), 1989 (53.5%), and 2002/2003 (51.9%) for overweight/obesity prevalence. In the most representative study on anemia among children (< 11 g/dL), the prevalence increased from 22.0% (1974) to 46.9% (1995/1996). For pregnant woman (< 11 g/dL), results ranged from 14.7 to 40.4%. Prevalence of anemia among children and overweight/obesity among adults showed similar tendencies over time. Recent evidence of reduction in anemia can be attributed to flour supplementation with iron and folic acid. Anemia and overweight/obesity are associated with significant changes in food intake as a substratum of the nutritional transition.