Obesity, overweight, underweight and stunting among the female adolescents in Shahroud, Iran

Adolescence is one of the most critical stages of human growth. Its rate and scale is varied around the world; therefore, the consideration of young girls’ dietary intake is highly important. The aim of this study was to determine obesity, overweight, Underweight and stunting using anthropometric index among female adolescent population in Shahroud, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 731 female students from secondary school with a range of 11-14 years old were studied using the two-phase cluster sampling method. After the initial assesmnets, their anthropometric data was calculated and compared with CDC 2000 standard and finally, all the information was recorded in questionnaire forms. The research data was analyzed using SPSS software. The comparison of Body Mass Index (BMI) with the standards showed that 12.9% of the girls were underweight, 12.71% were overweight and 1.7% of them were obese respectively. Besides, 8.2% were suffering from chronic malnutrition and 16.7% from mild malnutrition. The results showed that the studied female students were suffering from malnutrition and in urgent need of macronutrients and micronutrients due to a rapid growth rate. Consequently, it is recommended to monitor them and provide nutritional services for them, individually and collectively.