Corporal composition and nutritional state in a sample made of students aged between 9 and 12 years from La Araucanía, Chile

Abstract

This study determines the nutritional reality and the body composition of 212 teenagers, 105 men (49,5 %) and (51,5 %), aged between 9 and 12 years. With a predominance of the muscular mass (M M) in both sexes, males with a 37,77 % ± 4,15 at de age of 9, 42,50 % ± 4,26 at 10 years, 40,07 % ± 2,12 at 11 years, 44,25 % ± 2,19 at 12 years. Females, with a porcentage of 37,05 %± 5,15 at the age of 9; 40,15 % ± 4,19 at 10; 38,08 % ± 4,09 at 11 years, 44,03 % ± 3,15 at 12 years. Considering males, 23,8 % were obese and a 40,9 % were overweight. In relation with the females 23,3 % were obese and a 45,7 % were overweight. Between the adipose mass (MA) and the muscular mass (MM) there were differences considering gender and age with a value of p ≤ 0,05.