The objective of this study was to analyze the body composition of seven to 10 year-old children of high socioeconomic status. Therefore, 511 children (274 boys and 237 girls) were submitted to body mass, height and triceps (TR) and subscapular (SE) skinfolds thickness anthropometric measurement. Based on this information, the following topics were determined: relative body fat (% Fat), lean body mass (LBM), body fat distribution (BFD) and sum of the thickness of the TR and SE skinfolds (£TSF). Two-way ANOVA was used for comparisons between gender and the different age groups, followed by the Scheffé post hoc test when P < 0.05. For the children classification according to the categories of body adiposity, frequency distribution was used. A test of comparison between ratios was adopted to verify the differences between gender in each category (P < 0.05). Significant differences between gender (P < 0.05) were verified in TR skinfold (girls > boys) and in LBM (boys > girls). Significant age effect was identified in all analyzed variables, except for DBF, with the highest values having been found in the 10 year-old group. A high percentage both for boys and girls presented high adiposity index, with superiority for boys (28% vs. 14%, P < 0.01). On the other hand, a larger number of girls presented relative body fat concentrations below the desirable cutting points (15% vs. 3%, P < 0.01). The values of body adiposity found in the present study suggest that a high percentage of children from both gender already present important health risk factors at early ages.
Body fat; Anthropometric measurement; Anthropometry; Low weight; Overweight; Obesity
