THE STAGE OF NUTRITION TRANSITION IN DIFFERENT BRAZILIAN REGIONS

The stage of nutrition transition in Brazil at the end of the 1980s wa s evaluated using the data fi om a nationwide cross-sectional anthropo metry survey in Brazil in 1989 (Pesquisa Nacional sobre Salide e Nutri cao-PNSN). Comparable estimates of undernutrition and obesity were pro duced for children from 6 to 35 months old (n=3,641), adult males from 20 to 64 years old (n=14,235) and adult females from 18 to 64 years o ld (n=15,669). Body Mass Index(kg/m2) was employed to assess both unde rnutrition aid obesity in adults and weight-for-age (undernutrition) a nd weight-for-height (obesity) indices were used for children. The 5th and 95th centiles of the distribution of these indices in a reference population were used as limits for the diagnosis of undernutrition an d obesity respectively. Ordering the frequency of the problems in the population showed obesity in women and undernutrition in children to b e the two main nutritional disorders in the country. These two problem s are the most frequent in the urban population of the North, Northeas t and Center-West regions, and in the Southeast and Center-West rural regions. Obesity leads among both adults and children in the urban are as of the Southeast and South regions, and in the rural South. Only in the rural Northeast, the poorest region in the country, undernutritio n leads among children, men and women. This mosaic of situations deter mines the need for a complete reassessment of traditional nutrition po licies and programs employed in the country.