Over and undernutrition in the children of Australian immigrants: Assessing the influence of birthplace of primary carer and English language use at home on the nutritional status of 4-5-year-olds.

Objective: To document the relationship between childhood nutrition status and ethnicity (defined as the birthplace of primary carer and English language use at home) using a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old children.

Design And Participants: Cross-sectional population survey of 4 983 4- to 5-year-old children (2 537 boys and 2 446 girls) as part of Wave 1 (2004) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Main Outcome Measures: Overweight/obesity and thinness using the newly published body mass index cut-off points of Cole (2007).