[Clinical and epidemiologic aspects of overweight and nutritional habits of schoolchildren and teenagers].

UNLABELLED:Obesity is a complex, pluricausal disease that develops through the interaction of social,'behavioural, cultural, physiological, metabolic and genetical causes. MATERIAL AND METHODS:The study was conducted on 1764 school age children from Iaşi city. Data was collected by measuring their weight, height and arterial pressure. 283 children were diagnosed with weight excess and have been questioned about their nutritional habits and life quality. RESULTS:It has been concluded that 50.17% of the children were breastfed in the first months of life. The weight excess was frequently correlated with: irregular meal schedule (57.59%), roast meal cooking (69.61%), eating white bread (77.38%), predilection for fat meat (66.78%), processed cheese and butter (69.25%), french fries (68.19%), everyday dessert (62.89%), highly concentrated sweets (cookies, chocolate) (63.95%), biscuits, snacks, chips (73.85%) and sweet juices (66.42%). Inactivity was also an important factor, often associated with weight excess, considering that 60.42% of the children spend their spare time watching TV or playing computer games and only 32.86% of the children practice sport during their spare time. CONCLUSIONS:Obesity and overweight are pathologies with increasing incidence in our country and they are caused by a combination between genetical factors and, more important, nutritional habits and the amount of time dedicated to physical exercise.