Estado Nutricional y Desempeño Físico de una muestra de escolares de 14 y 15 años de la ciudad de Chillán, Chile

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a huge problem with serious consequences on the state of health, raising the need to take measures to stimulate or improve both the nutritional intake and physical condition. The aim of this study was to assess nutritional status according physical performance in a sample of students aged 14 and 15 years of the city of Chillan. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out with 245 students from the upper institute of Commerce of the city of Chillán, eighth region of Chile. Weight and height were collected to obtain the body mass index and waist circumference. Moreover, physical performance were collected such as Course-Navette, abdominals, arm push up, jumping and flexibility using the battery used by the Education Quality Agency in Chile (SIMCE) of Physical Education. Results: 18.8% and 14.3% of the students were overweight and obese, respectively. The overweight and obese students have a poorer physical performance with fewer abdominaland arm push ups, a lower jump and a shorter time in seconds on the Course-Navette. In flexibility score no differences were found according to nutritional status. Conclusions: Overweight and obesity students had worse physical performance. Hence the need to take measures aimed at stimulating or improving physical capacity to reverse these adverse trends for their health.