Evaluation of Obesity and Overweight in Children Aymaras of the Province of Arica, Chile Luis A Barrio Mateu 1* , Dayneri León Valladares 1 and José Miguel López Castillo 2 1 Universidad de Tarapacá, Facultad de Educación y Humanidades, Departamento de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y Deporte, Arica, Chile 2 Universidad de Tarapacá, Departamento de Finanza, Arica, Chile KEYWORDS Aymara. Children. Corporal Composition. Obesity. Overweight. Somatotype ABSTRACTIn recent years there has been an increase in childhood obesity worldwide. Chile has not been oblivious to this problem, considered among the countries with higher incidence. Arica, an extreme region of Chile, borders Bolivia and Peru, has a great ethnic diversity predominating Aymara. The inhabitants of Arica have experienced adaptations to urban lifestyles, carrying out modifications corporal. For this motive is necessary to evaluate the body composition and the somatotype in Aymara children of the Arica commune. A non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out under a quantitative exploratory analysis of variables evaluating 170 Aymara children between 8 and 10 years of age. The main results classify children as overweight, showing a meso- endomorphic somatotype and endo-mesomorphic girls, with a greater tendency to obesity in girls than in boys. * Address for correspondence: Luis A Barrio Mateu Dirección: Ofragia 65, Residencial Las Palmas 2, Arica, Chile, CP: 1000000 Telephone: +56985536027 E-mail: lbm170161@gmail.com INTRODUCTION It has been proven in recent years that the increase of obesity in children runs parallel to the behavior in adulthood. There seems to be an inexorable tendency to increase weight in the child population, to the point that there is a talk of a real epidemic. Obesity today has become manifest at the international level, and this scourge has likewise affected Chile. According to the results of Sistema de System of Measure- ment of the Quality of Education (SIMCE) of Physical Education, made to children of educa- tional establishments in 2016, they announced that there is an increase in obesity and a cardio- vascular and metabolic risk (Physical Education SIMCE 2016; World Health Organization 2014). There are many factors influencing obesity, including the impact of globalization, family and social lifestyles, lack of information regarding sound approaches to nutrition, the limited avail- ability, and affordability of healthy foods, which contribute to aggravate the problem (De Ruiter et al. 2017). The region of Arica and Parinacota, an ex- treme area in Chile, has a population of different ethnic origins and diverse nationalities, being Aymara a large population, inhabiting, not only in the rural and peripheral localities, but, in the commune of Arica. These populations have been acquiring urban lifestyles, not knowing how these styles have influenced their anthropomet- ric characteristics. Therefore, it would be inter- esting to carry out cineanthropometrical evalu- ations in these populations to determine the obesity index in the population of the Arica com- mune, considering the cultural diversity of the region. This has inspired the researchers to de- velop the present research, for which the fol- lowing objectives have been outlined. General Objectives To evaluate the body composition and the somatotype in children, boys, and girls Ayma- ras of the commune of Arica. Specific Objectives 1. Determine the variables: weight, height, fat percentage, folds, perimeters and obesity index in Aymara boys and girls residing in the commune of Arica. 2. Identify the somatotype in children, boys and girls Aymaras of the commune of Arica. Aymara Population Lifestyle Patterns Aimara or aimará is a native group of people of South America that inhabits the Andean pla- Ethno Med, 12(3): 146-153 (2018) DOI: 10.31901/24566772.2018/12.03.555 2018 © Kamla-Raj 2018