The nutritional transition in developing countries may lead to imbalances in the growth and
nutritional status of adolescents in such countries - events that could result in improper maturation and
morbidity in adult life. This study seeks to determine the patterns of physical growth and nutritional status
of adolescents living in a low income semi-urban town in Nigeria. Anthropometric data from six hundred and
twenty five (625) secondary school students aged 10-19 years (adolescents) were collected and their Body
Mass Index (BMI) calculated. Their heights and weights were compared to those of a reference population.
Outcome measures for nutritional status were proportion of the population that is stunted (height-for-age <
3 percentile of the reference data), thin and overweight/obese (BMI-for-age < 5 and > 85 percentiles of the rd th th
reference data respectively). The girls matched the heights of half of the reference population at all ages, but
the boys did not. From age fourteen years, the boys weighed less than half of the reference population while
the girls matched or weighed more than the reference population. Under-nutrition was found to affect 19.36%
of the population (with stunting accounting for 84.47% of this group), while 13.12% of the population were
overweight/obese. The prevalence of thinness and stunting were higher in boys than in girls. Boys were also
slightly more obese than the girls. Under- and over-nutrition co-exist in the population and affect more boys
than girls. There is an urgent need to address these problems in preventive and curative health care
programmes.