Resumo

HERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ, Rosa Armenia; HERRERA MOGOLLON, Héctor Antonio; PEREZ GUILLEN, Analy  e  BERNAL, Jennifer. Nutritional status and Household food security in children and adolescents in suburban areas of Baruta and El Hatillo, Caracas. An Venez Nutr [online]. 2011, vol.24, n.1, pp.021-026. ISSN 0798-0752.

Living conditions and health have an effect on the nutritional status of children and adolescents´ growth and development in poor environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between household food security with nutrition. Indicators used were height for age (HA), weight for age (WA), and body composition. The study was cross-sectional. The sample size consisted of 112 children between 3 and 16 years old of both sexes, who belong to suburban communities of Baruta and Hatillo Municipality, as a part of a subsample of the macro project “Assessment of Nutritional Status and Food Security in suburban communities and municipalities Baruta Hatillo” in Miranda State. The household food security was measured with the scale Lorenzana and Sanjur. Z scores were calculated for nutritional diagnosis. We applied a Spearman correlation (p <0.05) between categories of indicators. The 70.53% of households had some degree of food insecurity. HA showed 46.43% of deficit. We found nutritional deficient status in households with plenty of food security (26.92%), and adequate nutritional status in food insecurity households (70.17%). This study does not provide statistical association between household food insecurity and nutritional status.

Palavras-chave : Nutritional status; household food security; indicators.