Background: Overweight and obesity are emerging at alarming rates in low income women in many countries. Guatemala has the additional burden of a high prevalence of chronic under-nutrition (stunting) in children.
Aim: The purpose of this paper is to explore the dual burden of infant and child (5-23 months) under-nutrition and maternal over-weight and obesity in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.
Subjects and methods: Anthropometric measures were collected in 446 mother-infant dyads in a metropolitan population of mixed indigenous (Maya) and non-indigenous descent in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Children were identified as stunted based on a height for age <-2 below the WHO reference median and maternal overweight/obesity defined as a BMI ≥25. Stunted children with an overweight/obese mother were compared to other children who were not stunted and/or who did not have an overweight/obese mother.
Results: The prevalences of stunting (38%) and maternal overweight/obesity (45%) were high, but just 17% of the mother and child pairs were dual burden. The socio-demographic characteristics of stunted children were not influenced by maternal overweight or obesity.
Conclusion: Policies are needed to address under-nutrition as well as preventing obesity and obesity-related chronic disease risks of stunted children and their mothers.
Keywords: Guatemala; SCOM; nutritional dual burden; overweight; stunting.