[Human ecology and nutritional anthropometry of adult Xavánte Indians in Mato Grosso, Brazil]. / Ecologia humana e antropometria nutricional de adultos Xavánte, Mato Grosso, Brasil.

This study compares anthropometric and ecological profiles of two Xavánte indigenous communities in Mato Grosso, Central Brazil. The research describes time allocation patterns and involves an anthropometric survey (including body mass, stature, and BMI) in adults over 20 years of age. Data from Etéñitépa (also known as Pimentel Barbosa) were collected in 1994. Field work at São José was conducted in 1998 and 1999. Compared with the São José group, Xavánte in Etéñitépa do more subsistence activities like farming, fishing, hunting, and gathering. The São José Xavánte do more paid work and generally engage in less physical activity. Average stature in the two communities is similar, but there are major differences in mean body mass and BMI. The São José group has average BMI values well over those of the Etéñitépa group in practically all age brackets. Obesity prevalence rates were high in both men (24.6%) and women (41.3%) in São José, while in Etéñitépa the rates were only 2.5% and 4.8%, respectively. The authors conclude that the different nutritional profiles in the two communities result from specific patterns of social, political, and economic interactions with Brazilian society.

[Physical growth of five to ten year old Xavante indian children in Mato Grosso] / Crescimento físico de crianças indígenas xavantes de 5 a 10 anos de idade em Mato Grosso.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the physical growth of Xavante children aged 5-10 years and living at the Sangradouro and são Marcos reservations, state of Mato Grosso, central Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in February 1997 in two native Brazilian Indian schools. Our sample included 233 children. The following data were collected: birth date, sex, weight, height, arm-muscle circumference, and triceps skinfold thickness. Data on height and weight were compared to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth charts following the recommendation of the World Health Organization. RESULTS: Our results show that 9% of our population sample had height-for-age Z scores <-2. For boys, statistically significant differences (P<0.05) in height-for-age and weight-for-age Z scores were observed between the two communities. Similar differences were not observed for girls. Xavante children are, in average, shorter in height than North-American children. However, for some age groups, the average values of height overlap with those of the Brazilian children investigated by the National Research on Health and Nutrition (PNSN). CONCLUSIONS: The physical growth profile of Xavante children presented important differences when compared to that of a number of other South American native Indian populations. Based on the information collected, we argue that North-American curves can be used to evaluate the nutritional status of Xavante children.

[Nutritional assessment of children 0 to 5 years old cared for by the municipal network of urban health of the southern region of Brazil, 1988]. / Diagnóstico nutricional de crianças de zero a cinco anos atendidas pela rede municipal de saúde em área urbana da região sul do Brasil, 1988.

An epidemiological survey was undertaken to fulfil one of the conditions required for the establishment of the Nutritional Surveillance System, on the basis of data from 1988. In this survey an anthropometric examination was employed for the purpose of discovering the prevalence and the kinds of protein energy malnutrition among children under five years of age who had been assisted at Health Centers of the Municipal Health Department of Curitiba, Paraná (Brazil). Of a sample population of 4,213 children it was found (by the Gòmez criterion) that 28.1% had malnutrition 3.6% of this percentage being of second or third degree. By the use of the Seoane-Latham criterion as modified by Batista Filho, 19.7% of the children presented some kind of malnutrition. The distribution of the sample in centiles showed that it contained an excess of children in the first centiles after 6 th months of age as compared with the reference population. This excess was more evident in the 12 to 24-months age group.