A comparative study of anthropometric indices of Thai children aged 5-15 years in Bangkok and Rajchaburi.

A comparative study of weight, height, skinfold thickness, total body fat and lean body mass of healthy Thai children aged 5-15 years from Bangkok and Rajchaburi were studied. A total of 1253 children were from Bangkok and the other 1135 children were from Rajchaburi. All nutritional parameters of children at a corresponding age from Bangkok were higher than those of children from Rajchaburi. The nutritional parameters of children from Bangkok in this study are approaching those of children of the United States. At the same corresponding age, children of both sexes from Bangkok have less lean body mass but more total body fat than those of the United States. It is concluded that overnutrition is a problem in this group of children from Bangkok and should be tackled immediately.