[Nutritional transition in Brazil: geographic and temporal trends]

Based on three cross-sectional studies conducted in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, an analysis of the nutritional transition in Brazil was performed. This analysis found a rapid decrease in the prevalence of childhood malnutrition and an even more rapid increase in adult overweight/obesity. Correction of the height deficit was 72% in urban children and 54.4% in rural children. Obesity rates doubled or tripled in adult men and women at the extremes of the time series analyzed. Excluding the rural Northeast, malnutrition prevalence in adult women dropped to acceptable rates (about 5%) starting in 1989. Inversely, anemia continued to display a high prevalence, and there is indication of an epidemic trend. The evolution of nutritional status in the Brazilian population according to macro-regions and social distribution is reported. The likely factors for the observed changes are analyzed.