DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i05.028

Pages: 1851-1859

The recent increase in both adolescent over-weight and obesity in the developing world has underlined the important consequences these trends may impact on public health. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor prevalence rates and trends in under-nutrition and overweight (including obesity) among adolescents. A nutritional surveillance system has been implemented in the Benghazi’s schools to estimate the nutritional status. The main objectives were to assess the prevalence of under-weight, over-weight and obesity among Benghazi’s adolescents. Anthropometric measurements were taken by professionally trained researchers and subject’s weight status was defined according to BMI. The sample, representing adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years, consisted of 552, subjects, 324 of whom were females (58.7 %), while 228 were males (41.3 %). The current study reports a 18.3% and 12.1% prevalence of overweight and obesity in Benghazi adolescents, with a lesser underweight prevalence (4.9%) ; reflecting a presence of two faces of malnutrition in the country.