Caracterización del estado nutricional en la población Shuar de la provincia de Morona Santiago en el año 2018-2019

Abstract

Abstract. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, nutritional status refers to an individual’s physical condition resulting from the balance between their needs and intake of energy and nutrients. This encompasses eating habits and hygienic dietary measures, impacting malnutrition due to excessive and inadequate consumption of primary nutrients, such as carbohydrates and saturated lipids, evidenced by increased body measurements, such as body mass index, waist circumference, and others. In Ecuador, the most alarming figures show that 25.7% of adults suffer from obesity. However, there is no detailed information on the proposed research topic in the Shuar population. This study aims to determine the nutritional status of self-identified Shuar adults in Morona Santiago, Ecuador, during 2018-2019. The methodology is a quantitative, descriptive, retrospective, observational, and cross-sectional study, with a simple stratified random sample of 300 adults of the Shuar ethnic group, to whom a survey containing the study variables was administered and anthropometric measurements were taken, obtaining the following results. Results: A sample of 300 adults of the Shuar ethnic group was taken, with 64% women and 36% men. The most affected age group was between 35 and 64 years old, with a percentage of 54.33%. Obesity was 4%, overweight was 34%, average weight was 55%, and underweight was 7%.