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The aim of this study is to record the prevalence of overweight and obesity and to explore any relationship with nutritional status in Greek children aged 6‐15 years.

A total of 524 children participated in the study. Anthropometric and dietary characteristics were recorded for all subjects.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 21.1 per cent and 8.4 per cent for boys and 17.6 and 7.3 per cent for girls, respectively. Dietary intakes of energy, fat, protein, lipids and sugar were higher in overweight and obese children compared with the normal ones ( p < 0.001), while fibre intake was lower in the overweight and obese group ( p < 0.001) than in the normal group. The current study gives an estimation of overweight and obesity in children from Northern Greece. The composition of diet, especially low in fibre, vitamin D and high in energy and fat may play a role in the etiology of obesity.

The paper presents information on obesity prevalence in a Mediterranean country as well as integration of some nutrients in the etiology of obesity.

Waist circumference (WC) is a better predictor than total body fat for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and a sensitive marker of abdominal obesity for both adults and children. The purpose of this paper is to provide, for the first time, percentile curves of WC in children from Thessaloniki, northern Greece.

In total, 607 children (324 boys‐283 girls) aged 7‐15 years participated in the study. Sex‐specific descriptive statistics for three age groups (7‐9, 10‐12 and 13‐15) and smoothed percentiles curves of WC were derived and presented.

WC increased with age in both boys and girls. Boys had higher mean values of WC in two age groups (10‐12 and 13‐15 years) compared with girls, while girls showed a higher mean value in the age group of 7‐9 years compared with boys. Percentile levels were higher for girls above the 90th percentile for the age groups of 7‐9 and 10‐12 years. WC correlated closely with body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.90 vs 0.89, for boys and girls, respectively). Reference curves of WC were provided for the first time. Considering the lack of such reference curves and also the high incidence of pediatric obesity in northern Greece's children, the paper aims to help identify and prevent early obesity risk factors associated with high WC values.

The paper informs nutritionists and clinical dietitians of new data of percentile ranges regarding waist circumference in a pediatric population.