María del Pilar Rodríguez

Impact of nutritional status at the onset of elementary school on academic aptitude test achievement at the end of high school in a multicausal approach.

Like in many other countries, few investigations have been carried out in Chile to measure the long-term effects of nutritional status at an early age on scholastic achievement in a multicausal approach. The objectives of the present study were to describe the impact of nutritional, intellectual, family, educational and socio-economic variables at the onset of elementary school in 1987 that may affect achievement on the academic aptitude test (AAT) taken in 1998 at the end of high school, and to quantify the impact of these independent variables on the AAT. The present study comprises two cross-sectional stages: in 1987, a representative sample of 813 elementary school first-grader Chilean children from the Metropolitan Region was randomly chosen; in 1998, 12 years later, 632 school-age children were located and only 351 of them graduated from high school and, from these, 260 students took the AAT. In 1987 nutritional status was assessed through anthropometric parameters, intellectual ability by the Ravens Progressive Matrices Test, scholastic achievement through Spanish language and mathematics tests, and socio-economic status using Graffars modified scale; family variables were also recorded. Maternal schooling, scholastic achievement, intellectual ability and head circumference-for-age z-score (anthropometric indicator of both nutritional background and brain development) all in 1987 were the independent variables with the greatest explanatory power for AAT variance in 1998 (r2 0.402). These results provide a foundation to identify the risk factors at an early age that affect AAT scores and should be useful to improve nutritional and educational policies.

Autopercepción de la imagen corporal en estudiantes universitarios de Chile y Panamá

Objective: To determine the association between nutritional status and body image perception among university students from Chile and Panama. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted among 792 students of both sexes, ages 18 to 30 years, from University Santo Tomas of Vina del Mar, Chile, University Autonoma of Chile and University Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia (ULACIT) of Panama. We determined the real BMI and the perceived BMI. Afterward, the two were compared to each other. Results: In a sample of 792 students, 480 from Chile (51,4% females) and 312 from Panama (56,7% females), the perceived BMI is higher than the real one in the Chileans, men and women (60%). Instead, in Panama the overestimation is less than 50% in both sexes. The percentage is the same in both countries and both sexes that perceive themselves as they really are (20%). There is concordance between BMI and body image in half of Chilean men and a third of Chilean women. However, a better concordance is observed in overweight students (69% in men, 90,5% in women). In Panamanians, there is a concordance observed of 40% in men and 19,9% in women. Conclusion: There is a tendency for overestimation in normal weight students of both countries. However the obese students

Pilot nutrition and physical activity intervention for preschool children attending daycare centres (JUNJI); primary and secondary outcomes

INTRODUCTION A pilot intervention was conducted to promote physical activity and nutrition in public preschool education (near half a million children in Chile), in order to prevent obesity. OBJECTIVE To assess the primary (body fat) and secondary outcomes (physical activity and energy intake) of a nutrition and physical activity pilot intervention for preschool children, attending day care centres. METHODS A pilot intervention in six day care centres selected at random (n = 530), in 4-5 years old preschool children, Santiago, Chile intending to: provide nutritional and physical activity education to educators and health promotion activities for the family, which in turn, will affect the primary (body fat), and secondary outcomes (physical activity pattern and energy food intake) were measured in a representative subsample of 120 intervened and 145 controls children. RESULTS In relation to secondary outcomes monitoring, moderate-vigorous activity was duplicated in the intervention group (+5.4% and +4.7%, respectively), in both obese and eutrophic children. Energy intake decreased in 11.7% in obese and 7.5% in eutrophic children. Dietary fat intake was reduced (-11 g in obese and -8.4 g in eutrophic children). Intervened obese children reduced body fat in 1.5%, meanwhile in control obese children, body fat increased 1.3% (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The pilot intervention demonstrated the feasibility to influence dietary risk factors and physical activity at the day care centres and families. Therefore, the implementation of the validated intervention program will be tested in different weather conditions, to prevent unhealthy habits in preschool children and their families.

Energy expenditure and intake comparisons in Chilean children 4-5 years attending day-care centres

INTRODUCTION the doubly labelled water (DLW) method has an accuracy of 1% and within-subject precision of 5-8%, depending on subjects age and environments issues. Energy intake assessment is prone to errors (>15- 20%) depending in the method utilized. OBJECTIVE to quantify DLW methodology errors in four to five year olds that could affect the comparison with energy intake. METHODS energy expenditure (TEE, by DLW), was assessed during 14 days in 18 preschool children, who attended eight hours daily to day-care centres. Energy intake was determined by a combined method: food weighing during weekdays and recall after leaving the Centre (17h to sleep time) plus 24 h recall, during the weekend. Several assumptions affecting DLW total error were assessed to determine their influence in the comparison to energy intake (i.e. background variability, space ratio, proportion of water subject to fractionation, food quotient value). RESULTS the individual mean energy expenditure was 1 373 ± 177 kcal and the energy intake (1 409 ± 161 kcal). The overall difference between intake and expenditure was 42.9 kcal/day (limits of agreement + 259.1 to -112.3 kcal/day). TEE measurement error only explained a minor quantity (2.4%), between both measurements, and the observed mean isotope dilution space was 1.030 ± 0.010 confirming the value utilized in adults studies. CONCLUSIONS energy expenditure data is similar to other studies in preschool children. The small difference found between energy intake and expenditure may be attributed to the applied energy intake methodology, the homogeneous diet at care centres during the week-days and the lower DLW methodology error.

Nivel de intensidad de las principales actividades físicas de escolares chilenos: determinación por acelerometría

El proposito del presente trabajo fue determinar por valores acelerometricos el nivel de intensidad de diferentes actividades especificas de ninos escolares chilenos. Con este objetivo, 80 ninos de 10 a 12 anos (39 varones y 41 ninas) llevaron un diario de actividades en un formato estructurado y simultaneamente un acelerometro por uno a tres dias. En cada sujeto las actividades se expresaron en cuentas por minuto (cpm). Los niveles respectivos de actividad fisica (AF) fueron clasificados en: AF sedentaria/ AF leve / AF moderada / AF vigorosa. Resultados: 26 actividades diferentes fueron documentadas. En la mayoria de ellas la diferencia entre ninos y ninas fue leve y no significativa. La unica AF vigorosa fue correr. En la categoria “AF moderada” los cpm de los juegos al aire libre fueron significativamente mas bajos que las de los deportes y educacion fisica escolar (p 0,007). Estos resultados pueden servir de guia para establecer una escala de valores en la evaluacion global de la AF de ninos chilenos.