Childhood Obesity and Plasma Micronutrient Deficit of Chilean Children between 4 and 14 Years Old.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Castillo-Valenzuela, Oscar Duarte, Lissette Arredondo, Miguel Iñiguez, Germán Villarroel, Luis Pérez-Bravo, Francisco
Editor	Szewczyk-Golec, Karolina
Copyright Year	2023
Abstract	Objective: To analyze the nutritional status and plasma levels of vitamins and minerals in a cohort of Chilean children between 4 and 14 years old from three cities in Chile (Santiago, Antofagasta, and Concepcion). Design: This is a descriptive analysis of micronutrient levels in Chilean children as it relates to obesity and food consumption. Setting: This study included 1235 children from schools in Santiago (central area), Antofagasta (northern area), and Concepcion (southern area) in Chile. Results: Plasma levels of micronutrients revealed deficiencies in children from all these cities. Copper (26.4%) and calcium (33.0%) deficiencies were found in the children from Antofagasta, whereas iron (26.7%) and zinc (20.8%) deficiencies were found in the children from Concepcion and Santiago, respectively. The percentage of children with vitamin D deficiencies was exceptionally high in all cities (over 78%). The analysis of micronutrients and nutritional status revealed that vitamin D deficiencies were significantly higher (p = 0.02) in overweight children, particularly in Antofagasta. In the analysis of the nutritional status of children and their food consumption habits, the proportion of overweight and obesity was significantly higher (p = 0.001) in children that skipped breakfast compared to children that did not. Finally, children from low socioeconomic levels were significantly more overweight and obese compared to children from high socioeconomic levels (p < 0.05). Conclusions: this is the first study to describe plasma levels of micronutrients in Chilean children and adolescents. High percentages of obesity, overweight, and vitamin D deficiency were detected in children. These results are of significant relevance to future public health policies in Chile.
Journal	Nutrients
Volume Number	15
PubMed Central reference number	PMC10096594
Issue Number	7
PubMed reference number	37049547
e-ISSN	20726643
DOI	10.3390/nu15071707
Language	English
Publisher	MDPI
Publisher Date	2023-03-31
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). © 2023 by the authors.
Subject Keyword	micronutrient deficiency vitamin D status childhood obesity
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Food Science Nutrition and Dietetics