This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional rehabilitation of undernourished children admitted to a program entitled Incentives to Fight Nutritional Deficiencies (ICCN) in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. The study included 724 children (6 to 24 months old) from July 1999 to July 2001. The indices used to evaluate baseline nutritional status were weight-for-age, weight-for-length, and length-for-age, defining normal as z score > -1, at-risk as > -2 and < -1, moderate malnutrition as < -2 and > -3, and severe malnutrition as < -3. Nutritional evolution was evaluated using the length-for-age index, and the results were analyzed considering the average z score variation at the end of the 12-month program. After 12 months, nutritional status had improved in all categories, while the best results were in children with more intense baseline nutritional deficiency. Gains in length were 1.12, 0.82, 0.57, and 0.45 z scores for the severe and moderate malnutrition, nutritional risk, and normal categories, respectively. The ICCN in Mogi das Cruzes thus demonstrated effective nutritional improvement for program beneficiaries.
Malnutrition; Supplementary Feeding; Nutrition Assessment
