Freixo, Manuel João VazAmaro, IdalinaPereira, Ana Maria Geraldes RodriguesSalselas, ValdemarFerraz, AntónioCelestino, João2017-10-122017-10-122017Freixo, Manuel João Vaz; Amaro, Idalina; Pereira, Ana Maria Geraldes Rodrigues; Salselas, Valdemar; Ferraz, António; Celestino, João. Frequency of daily meals and body mass index in young angolans. In International Conference on Childhood Obesity, CIOI 2017. Lisboahttp://hdl.handle.net/10198/14559Malnutrition and obesity constitute a dual epidemic of Portuguese-speaking African countries in the 21st century, with implications for the health of populations. Inadequate feed presents a multifactorial etiology, where eating behaviours of young people, such as omission of meals can have consequences on their nutritional status. Objectives – Evaluate the frequency of daily meals and the Body Mass Index (BMI) of young Angolans. Methodology – A quantitative and cross-sectional study. A simple random sample of 370 young people (47,6% males and 52,4% females) aged 12-19 years who lived in the city of Viana - Luanda. The information on the frequency of daily meals was obtained by interview and the BMI was classified according to WHO criteria. For the statistical analysis of the results, the SPSS ® software version 19.0 (2010) was used for Windows of Microsoft®. Results – In the age group of 12-14 years, 20% were underweight and 11,7% overweight / obesity. 5,6% of the young people aged 15-19 were underweight and 11,2% were overweight / obese. A significance level of 5%, it was found that the BMI presented was statistically dependent on age group (p = 0,004) and gender (p = 0,005). Regarding feed behaviour, 44% said they ate breakfast daily, 8,9%, 41%, 9,7%, 42,9% and 6,5% had daily meals in the middle of the morning, lunch, snack, dinner and supper respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between age group and feed behaviour (p> 0,05), nor between BMI and the frequency of daily meals (p> 0,05). Conclusion – The results are illustrative of a sample of young Angolans characterized by the coexistence of low weight and obesity. Being healthy eating a basic requirement for human existence and therefore an inalienable condition of peoples, the establishment of strategies as a way to improve the coordination, coherence and alignment of food policies at the global level is crucial.engYoung angolansBody mass indexconference object