Excess adiposity and iron-deficient status in Colombian women of reproductive age.

Objective: Information about excess adiposity markers different from BMI and iron status is limited and more so about the shape of these associations. This study evaluated the relationship between three adiposity markers and iron-deficient status in reproductive-age women.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis in 6357 non-pregnant women from the Colombian nutritional health survey (ENSIN) 2010.

[Breastfeeding from the perspective of teenage mothers in Bogotá].

Introduction: In Colombia, breastfeeding is inadequate and -especially in teenage girls- short. Given that adolescents are a social group with their own lifestyles, we need to know what meanings they have regarding breastfeeding, and also what the characteristics of their breastfeeding experience are, in order to identify issues that limit or facilitate this practice, which will produce the knowledge to improve breastfeeding promotion strategies.

Objective: To characterize the experience of breastfeeding in nursing adolescents and identify strengths, limitations and perceived needs from their own perspective.

[Comparison of two methodologies used for determining metabolic syndrome in adult population].

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome is characterized by the simultaneous or sequential appearance of various metabolic and inflammatory changes at molecular, cellular or hemodynamic level associated with the presence of insulin resistance and dominant visceral adiposity. Different expert groups, including the International Diabetes Federation and the National Cholesterol Education Program, have tried to develop criteria for its diagnosis.

Objective: To establish diagnostic criteria concordance levels for metabolic syndrome.

Micronutrient status and global DNA methylation in school-age children.

Aberrations in global LINE-1 DNA methylation have been related to risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Micronutrients including methyl-donors and retinoids are involved in DNA methylation pathways. We investigated associations of micronutrient status and LINE-1 methylation in a cross-sectional study of school-age children from Bogotá, Colombia.

Nutrition in Colombian pregnant women.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of pregnant women in Colombia and the associations between gestational BMI and sociodemographic and gestational characteristics.

Design: Cross-sectional study. A secondary analysis was made of data from the 2005 Demographic and Health Survey of Colombia.

Micronutrient and anthropometric status indicators are associated with physical fitness in Colombian schoolchildren.

Poor physical fitness is associated with increased health-related risks in children. The association of nutritional status indicators and physical fitness in children residing in developing countries is not well characterised. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 1945 children of age 5-12 years in Bogotá, Colombia, to assess whether anthropometric and micronutrient status indicators were associated with performance in the shuttle run and standing long jump tests.

Intestinal protozoan infections in relation to nutritional status and gastrointestinal morbidity in Colombian school children.

While Giardia duodenalis infection has been consistently associated with nutrient malabsorption and stunting in children, the effects of other protozoans on nutritional status or gastrointestinal morbidity are less clear. We sought to determine whether infection with common intestinal protozoans including Giardia duodenalis, Entamoeba coli and Blastocystis hominis was associated with anthropometric and micronutrient status, gastrointestinal symptoms, visits to the doctor or school absenteeism in children 5-12 years of age from Bogotá, Colombia. We obtained stool samples from 442 children enrolled in primary schools in 2006 and examined the presence of intestinal protozoans in relation to height, body mass index, plasma concentrations of vitamins A and B12, ferritin and zinc and erythrocyte folate.

Relation between vitamin B12 and folate status, and hemoglobin concentration and parasitemia during acute malaria infections in Colombia.

Anemia is a common complication of human malaria. Since micronutrient deficiencies are highly prevalent in malaria-endemic areas and appear to contribute to anemia etiology, we conducted a cross-sectional study in Tumaco, Colombia, to examine the associations between plasma vitamin B12 or erythrocyte folate concentrations and hemoglobin (Hb) among 96 adults with predominantly Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Prevalence of folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies was 26.

Are vitamin A and iron deficiencies re-emerging in urban Latin America? A survey of schoolchildren in Bogota, Colombia.

Background: In Latin America, the burden of vitamin A and iron deficiencies has been documented primarily in preschool-age children. There are few recent reports on the vitamin A and iron status of school-age children.

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence and predictors of vitamin A and iron deficiencies in Colombian schoolchildren.

Provision of a school snack is associated with vitamin B-12 status, linear growth, and morbidity in children from Bogota, Colombia.

In 2004, Bogotá's Secretary of Education (SED) initiated a snack program in public primary schools. A midmorning food ration was provided free of charge to children to supplement 30 and 50% of their daily requirements of energy and iron, respectively. The purpose of this study, an observational investigation of 3202 children ages 5-12 y, was to examine whether the snack program improved children's nutritional and health status.

[Self-reported physical activity in comparison with anthropometric body fat indicators in school children].

Introduction: Obesity is a public health problem associated with physical inactivity.

Objective: Autoreported physical activity was related with anthropometric indicators of body fat in a group of school children.

Materials And Methods: The descriptive, cross-sectional study that included 1,593 children aged 10 to 14 years from Bogotá and five provinces of central and eastern Colombia.

[Cardiovascular risk markers in schoolchildren from five provinces of eastern Colombia].

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is a public health problem globally; it represents the second cause of mortality in Colombia. This highlights the importance of identifying risk markers from the time of childhood, in order to diminish mortality rates proactively.

Objectives: The lipid profile, homocysteine and C reactive protein plasma concentrations were determined in order to identify relationships between these markers and age, sex and school type.

Vitamin B-12 status is associated with socioeconomic level and adherence to an animal food dietary pattern in Colombian school children.

Vitamin B-12 is related to neurocognitive function in school-age children, yet sociodemographic and dietary correlates of vitamin B-12 status in this age group are not well characterized. The prevalences of vitamin B-12 or folate deficiencies in Colombia are unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional study in a representative sample of 2800 low- and middle-income children aged 5-12 y from Bogotá's public schools.

[Iron and vitamin A micronutrient status, risk factors for their deficiencies and anthropometric assessment in preschool child from Funza municipality, Colombia].

Introduction: The malnutrition and deficiencias of iron and vitamin A are frequent in the Colombian population and are associated with biological and environmental risk factors.

Objective: Prevalence of anemia, iron and vitamin A deficiencies and nutritional status was determined by anthropometric assessment in a population of preschool children in the municipality of Funza. Associations were made between micronutrient deficiency and other risk factors reported in the literature.

[Stability and effect of ingestion on the levels of folate in plasma].

The physiological demand of folates increases during adolescence, pregnancy and lactation due to the rapid growth and anabolic activity during these stages of life. The periconceptional deficiency of folates is a risk for the presence of neural tube defects. We studied the stability of folates concentration in plasma and the effect of ingestion of a breakfast rich in folates on the postprandial levels of this micronutrient, up to two hours after food intake.