OBJECTIVE: To review studies that address the anthropometric profile of Brazilian schoolchildren. DATA SOURCES: Original articles published in SciELO, LILACS and MedLine databases from 1985 to 2009, which assessed the anthropometric status in Brazilian schoolchildren (seven to ten years old). Key-words used: "school", "schoolchild", "nutritional assessment", "anthropometry", "child", "stature", "school health". DATA SYNTHESIS: Twenty eight publications were found. The studies were done in local and regional public and private schools, with samples ranging from 86 to 50,114 individuals. Cross-sectional, case-control, and prospective investigations were found, with six different types of protocol for the anthropometric status classification. The results show that there is a higher prevalence of malnutrition in the North and Northeast regions and in the deprived Brazilian areas, while in the Southeast and South regions there is a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity, but both conditions coexist in the same areas. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the increased access to food, public policies against hunger and non-governmental and governmental actions, malnutrition and overweight still coexist in Brazilian schoolchildren. Simple actions such as measuring weight and height are extremely important for the nutritional status classification and for designing public policies.
school children; nutrition assessment; anthropometry
