Cristián Martínez; Héctor Silva; Erika Collipal; Vanessa Carrasco; Manuel Rodríguez; Rodrigo Vargas; Patricio Gatica & Tamara Silva

Summary

The Mapuche ethnic group has a wide distribution in the IX Region, the migration process of urban development itself, has made part of the Mapuche people move to the city of Temuco, modifying their lifestyles. The study of Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard recommended by the WHO to know the nutritional status according to the technical standard nutritional norm in Chile. The somatotype is used to estimate body shape and composition. This study describes the nutritional situation and somatotype of a sample of Mapuche municipal schools of the city of Temuco. We evaluated 292 Mapuche adolescents of both sexes, 154 men (52.7%) and 138 women (47.3%), between 10 and 14 years of age. For somatotype anthropometric method was used described by Heath & Carter while the assessment and classification of nutritional status according to technical standards nutrition. The men presented a mesomorphic somatotype (4.9/4.4). Women are endomesomórfico (5.4/4.3). The nutritional status of the sample has the following results in the case of males and 11.7% were obese and 20.1% were overweight. In checkers, 9.5% were obese and 27.5% were overweight. A comparison by gender differences were found in the endomorphy for women (p = 0.00) and mesomorphy in boys, one (p = 0.00). Not so in ectomorphy that did not differ. However, no differences were found when comparing the somatotype components between the ages of the sample. Obese-genic environment which emphasizes the modification of lifestyle, diet, sedentary effect is equally affecting the Mapuche population as the rest of the school population when compared with samples of students in municipal schools.

KEY WORDS: Mapuche subjects; Somatotype; Body mass index; Nutritional state.

How to cite this article