In Argentina, overweight affects 37% of boys aged 10 to 19 years

The study, supported by Unicef ​​Argentina, analyzed anthropometric indices of approximately three million girls, boys and adolescents from 0 to 19 years who received the benefits of the Sumar program and are part of the follower between 2014 and 2016 in various effects throughout the country.

From the analysis of data it is evident that Overweight in different age groups has remained relatively stable, over 18%, and slightly increased in the youth department, where it reached 21.9%. On the other hand, obesity remained in different age groups, from 6.8% in children under the age of 2 years, reaching 18.1% in the 6 to 9 year group and then slightly decreasing. among adolescents to 15.1%.

On the contrary, the report emphasizes that thinning (loss) and low weight between different years and between different years are between 3 and 4 times lower prevalence than malnutrition due to overweight (overweight and obesity) of the age group, while nutritional deficiency problems have shown a declining trend, those associated with overweight and obesity are increasing each year. Although the problem of the weight or size deficit remains a public health problem, the surplus is the most widespread and constantly increasing.

Thus, overweight (overweight and obesity) affects 31.1% of children and adolescents in 2016 and 13% of obesity; the deficit is covered by loss, low weight and a short increase remains stable over the period considered, with a slight downward trend , until it reaches 8.1%. It's also noticeable growth of overweight which is five percentage points between 2014 and 2016. In this way, malnutrition due to overweight is reportedly the most common problem between a child and adolescent, reported by the SUMAR program tracker.

Another conclusion that the study has shown is this the prevalence is increasing as the age group is higher. Total overweight and obesity (hereinafter "overweight") for 2016 is gradually increasing as the age of the population increases: in children under 2 years, the prevalence is 25.2% of children aged 2 to 5 years , is 29.4%, and the overweight is considerably increased after this age and is around 37%.

Although it is not possible to make linear comparisons between jurisdictions, either over time, due to the characteristics of the information coming from the traceable data, the report states that of the Patagonia region have the highest values ​​in overweight in children under 2 years of age: Tierra del Fuego 33.2%; Chubut 33.15% and Río Negro 31.3%. While the lowest values ​​in Formosa are 16.3%; Salta 23.3% and Mendoza 23.3%.

If there is a significant increase in overweight in the range of 2 to 5 years compared to the previous age range in the different regions, in particular in Santa Cruz, 43.4%, Tierra del Fuego 41.1% and Chubut 40.6%; in the range from 6 to 9, they insist on high overweight values ​​over the age range in different regions. Also, the provinces of the Patagonian region show the highest values, such as Chubut with 51.8%, followed by Río Negro 50.8% and Neuquén 50.1%. Misiones (25.7%) and Formosa (27.7%) presented the lowest values, followed by San Luis (30.9%).

In the age group between 6 and 9 years, high overweight values ​​still exist, but the problem is consolidated among the elderly, while in the youth section between 10 and 19 the problem of overweight reaches half the population in several provinces: Santa Cruz 53%, Tierra part Fuego 49.7% and Río Negro 49.5%, which proves the consolidation of the problem.

The study, which in 2014 included 2,263,346 inhabitants and 3,015,466 and 3,041,808 in the years 2015 and 2016, notes that the proportion of girls and adolescents has always remained around 52% and in males around 48%.

It is important to note that this report is not a representative study of the nutritional status of all children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 in each of the analyzed jurisdictions, but provides data on the population from 0 to 19 years old is served in the public subsector, SUMAR beneficiary and meets certain eligibility criteria known as markers.