STUNTING IS ASSOCIATED WITH OVERWEIGHT IN CHILDREN OF 4 NATIONS THAT ARE UNDERGOING THE NUTRITION TRANSITION

A higher risk of obesity in stunted children has been described in His panic-American, Jamaican and Andean populations, but little systematic exploration has been done concerning this area in nutrition. This pap er examines the relationship between stunting and overweight status fo r children aged 3-6 and 7-9 y in nationally representative surveys in Russia, Brazil, and the Republic of South Africa and a large nationwid e survey in China. Using identical cut-offs for body mass index, the p revalence of child overweight in these countries ranges from 10.5 to 2 5.6% (based on the 85th percentile); recent NHANES III results indicat e that this prevalence is around 22% in the U.S. Stunting is also comm on in the surveyed countries affecting 9.2-30.6% of all children. Our results showed a significant association between stunting and overweig ht status in children of ail countries. The income-adjusted risk ratio s of being overweight for a stunted child ranged from 1.7 to 7.8. Clea rly, there is an important association between stunting and high weigh t-for-height in a variety of ethnic environmental and social backgroun ds. Although the underlying mechanisms remain unexplored, this associa tion has serious public health implications particularly for lower inc ome countries. As these countries enter the nutrition transition exper iencing large changes in dietary and activity patterns, they may face, among other problems, additional difficulties in their fight against obesity.