[Pilot study of the evaluation of the nutritional status in a population sample in a health area]

We report the evaluation of a pilot study for the nutritional state carried out at a Health Center in Murcia, using a qualitative foodstuff questionnaire related to the previous 24 hours and the evaluation of anthropometric and analytical data. The evaluated individuals were randomly selected between the persons who had previously consulted. The survey was carried out by an interviewer. An outstanding result was that 90% of the surveyed individuals had ingested, at least one foodstuff from each group. The fat compartment was measured through the tricipital and subscapular fold and Quetelet index, and the protein compartment was measured through the muscular area of the arm. As reference values, the NHANES (USA) and the Alastrue Vidal (Spain) tables were used. It was found that the tricipital fold of the investigated population was underrated in the american tables (p less than 0.01).