Nutritional status and sexual dimorphism in three amazonian caboclo communities

Three Caboclo communities from Marajo Island (State of Pará, Brazil) were studied. Paricatuba is the most traditional one. Marajo-Açu is devoted to the extraction and commercialization of the fruit of açai. Praia Grande has adopted a mechanized agriculture, cattle raising and a cooperative religious...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pucciarelli, Hector Mario, Alves Neves, Walter, Melcher, Silvia Suzanne, Sereni Murrieta, Rui Sergio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/115836
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/115836
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:GROWTH
UNDERWEIGHT
STUNTING
WASTING
WESTERNISATION
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.4
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
Descripción
Sumario:Three Caboclo communities from Marajo Island (State of Pará, Brazil) were studied. Paricatuba is the most traditional one. Marajo-Açu is devoted to the extraction and commercialization of the fruit of açai. Praia Grande has adopted a mechanized agriculture, cattle raising and a cooperative religious organization. Three hundred and ten 0–30 year-old Caboclo males and females were measured. Each sample community was divided into three age stages: preadolescent (0–10 years old), youth (11–20 years old), and adult (21–30 years old). Body weight and height, mid upper-arm circumference, triceps skinfold, and bicondylar humerus width were measured. Body mass index, and upperarm fat, muscle and bone proportions were calculated. In preadolescents, underweight and stunting frequencies were found to be greater in Paricatuba and Marajo-Açu than in Praia Grande. Few significations for wasting were found in all. Sex dimorphism for youths was present in the three communities, whose upper-arm fat proportion was greater in females than in males. Adult Praia Grande males had a greater upper-arm muscle proportion – and females a greater upper-arm fat proportion – than in the other two villages. In synthesis, the three communities underwent some kind of nutritional stress, but Praia Grande was in better conditions than Paricatuba and Marajo-Açu. This suggests an improvement in Praia Grande quality of life, presumably due to westernisation.