Abstract:

Introduction: The military is characterized as a healthy and active population. The assessment of body composition and distribution of body fat becomes important to be evaluated in this audience, and risk factors may appear progressively over the years due to changes in physical activity and diet. Objective: To evaluate nutritional status and its association with conventional and unconventional anthropometric indicators of central adiposity in the military. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study. Study population composed of military men (≥ 18 years), the 29th Armored Infantry Battalion and the 1st Regiment of Tanks of Santa Maria-RS. Weight, height, Body Mass Index, nutritional status, age group, ethnicity and conventional anthropometric indicators (waist circumference, hip circumference, abdominal circumference and waist-hip ratio) and non-conventional (waist-height ratio and conicity index) to assess abdominal adiposity. Data were analyzed using STATA software version 12.0 and significant p<0.05. Results: A total of 142 military men participated in the study. The conventional and unconventional anthropometric variables were associated with overweight and obesity (p<0.001). Directly proportional relationship between age group and waist / hip ratio greater than 0.9; waist / height ratio greater than 5 (p=0.001) and conicity index greater than 1.25 (p=0.010) (p<0.001). Conclusion: there was a prevalence of overweight and obesity associated with abdominal adiposity assessed by conventional and unconventional anthropometric indicators.

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