Cambios en los últimos veinte años de la desnutrición histórica en el Valle del Mezquital

Abstract

Analysis of changes during the last 20 years about, breastfeeding, weaning and nutritional status to preschool children from the Valley of Mezquital in Hidalgo state, Mexico. Materials and methods: Nutritional survey on 518 preschool children in 1979, 1989 y 1998. A descriptive, cross-sectional and comparative study. Results: The abandon of breast feeding was more frequent on mestizos. The breast- feeding was extended in both groups but among indians stop at the first years. The weaning process was different. The deficit on weight and weight decrease on 25% and 55.3% in each case; on indians children the deficit on weight was more than 40% and on height was over 60%. The changes in 20 years, in the mestizo population, improve height 24.5% and reduced the undernutrition 6.8%. Conclusions: There is a general trend to improve breast- feeding, weaning and nutritional status but the: chronic undernutrition is present in the Valley of Mezquital, and the worst damage is happening on indians population