Sitting/lying time is associated with waist-to-hip increase but not with body weight increase or blood cardiovascular risk factors changes in adult women living in social vulnerability: A 2-year longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to determine whether physical activity and energy intake are associated with the anthropometric and blood cardiovascular risk factors alterations in women living in social vulnerability for a period of 2 years. METHODS: The study was carried out with women residing in the outskirts of Maceió-AL, aged between 19 and 45 years. We characterized the socioeconomic and biochemical profile (glucose, insulin, and blood lipids) at the beginning and at the end of the study. Anthropometric evaluation was performed in three moments: at the beginning, and after 1 and 2 years of follow-up. Energy expenditure, measured by doubly labeled water, physical activity, measured by 7-day triaxial accelerometry, and energy intake, measured by 3-day 24-hour food recall, were collected at baseline. RESULTS: After 2 years, 34 women were completely assessed, with a mean age of 33.7 years. Women spent around 16 hours of the day sitting/lying down. There was an increase in body weight (from 64.61 ± 11.69 to 66.37 ± 13.26 kg, P < .01), which was not associated with any of the predictors. There was also an increase in waist/hip ratio (WHR) (from 0.84 ± 0.07 to 0.87 ± 0.05, P < .01), which was positively associated with the amount of sitting/lying time per day. There were no significant alterations in blood cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSION: Energy intake did not predict anthropometrical changes. Sitting/lying time was associated with an increase in WHR, but not in body weight or blood cardiovascular risk factors in low-income women.

Agreement between the total energy expenditure calculated with accelerometry data and the BMR yielded by predictive equations v. the total energy expenditure obtained with doubly labelled water in low-income women with excess weight.

Low-income women are the group with the highest levels of obesity worldwide. In low-income settings, the use of predictive equations, which yield a measure of the individuals' BMR, is a feasible approach to estimate the individuals' total energy expenditure (TEE), using the factorial method (calculated-TEE = BMR × physical activity level), an important step of the obesity nutritional care. The present study aimed to identify the predictive equation that, in conjunction with metabolic equivalents of tasks (MET) data from accelerometers, yields the calculated-TEE with better agreement compared with the TEE measured by doubly labelled water (TEE-DLW). Forty-five women aged 19-45 years, with excess weight and mothers of undernourished children, were included. They received DLW to determine TEE (14 d); at the same time, they used triaxial accelerometers (7 d) to estimate their MET. The Bland-Altman method, paired-sample t tests, concordance correlation coefficient and root-mean-square error were used to assess the agreement. Maximum allowed differences were defined as 24 %, based on the within-variance coefficient of the energy intake of the sample. Eleven equations were studied. The calculated-TEE obtained by five equations showed non-significant bias: Dietary Reference Intake (Institute of Medicine (2005) Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids), FAO/WHO/UNU ((2001) Food and Nutrition Technical Report Series), Harris & Benedict ((1919) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA4, 370-373), Henry & Rees ((1991) Eur J Clin Nutr45, 177-185) and Schofield ((1985) Hum Nutr Clin Nutr39, 5-41). The mean percentage differences were -1·5, -0·8, 2·2, -2·2 and 2·0 %, respectively. Considering all parameters, FAO/WHO/UNU ((2001) Food and Nutrition Technical Report Series) equation performed slightly better than the others; nevertheless, no equation in conjunction with the estimated-MET showed a calculated-TEE with its CI for the Bland-Altman limits of agreement inside the pre-defined acceptable range.

Effectiveness of a stunting recovery program for children treated in a specialized center.

BackgroundStunting is still very prevalent in many poor and developing regions in the world. This study assessed the effectiveness of a stunting recovery program in children and its associated factors.MethodsThe retrospective study was conducted in a center of stunting recovery. There, children stayed in a day-hospital system (9 h per day; 5 days per week), and received five meals per day, providing 80% of their energetic daily needs. The main outcome was the stunting recovery rate (i.e., the child present a height-for-age index (HAZ) >-1.0 at the time of data collection). A total of 75 children treated for at least 24 months, aged between 6 and 48 months and with an HAZ <-2.0 at the time of admission were included.ResultsThe average treatment time was 41 months. About 18 children (24.0%) recovered from stunting. The variable "age at admission >24 months" (prevalence rate (PR)=0.39, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.15-0.99; P=0.04) and the variable "Household crowding index" (PR=0.65, 95% CI: 0.44-0.95; P=0.03) were associated with the success of the treatment.ConclusionThe environmental conditions in which the children live in their households and late admission to the center negatively influenced the success of stunting recovery, even with an intensive treatment.