[Malnutrition and inequalities in Francoist Spain: the impact of a milk supplement on the growth of Spanish schoolchildren (1954-1978)].

The Spanish nutritional and food transition was consolidated over the course of the twentieth century. In the pre-transition stage, a renewed interest emerged in the deficiencies presented by children''s diets, and food and nutritional education was considered the best course of action to correct them. The aim of this study was to analyse the changes over time and regional differences in the nutritional status of Spanish schoolchildren in rural areas in the 1950s and 1970s, using their height as an anthropometric parameter. The results revealed the existence of two categories at the beginning of the 1960s: a first group in which the height of children from the Cantabrian coast, the Levante, Catalonia and the Balea - ric Islands was similar to that of well-nourished children, and a second group from the regions of Andalusia, Extremadura and Galicia, who were not as tall. Between 1954 and 1977, the height of well-nourished children rose, particularly between 1954 and the first half of the 1960s. There was also a significant increase in the height of children attending national schools in rural areas, and the regional differences that had existed at the beginning of the 1960s disappeared. These advances were undoubtedly influenced both by the milk supplement and the food and nutritional education activities carried out within the framework of the Spanish Diet and Nutrition Education programme (EDALNU). Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.