The study was aimed to assess the alimentary status of schoolchildren living in the Southern Ukraine. There was stated that this contingent is characterised with the relatively high rate (7.0%) of excessive alimentary status, overweight, fat deposition and the prevalence of endomorphic component. The most frequent somatotypes are mesoectomorphic, mesomorphic, endomesomorphic and mesoendomorphic. Comparing the diagnostic exactness of the various calipers there was found that AccuMeasure caliper is much worse than Lange’s caliper and could not be used for clinical monitoring. The sensitivity of skin fold measurement with plastic caliper was only 70.3% and specificity — 45.6%, so it’s possible to use plastic calipers for screening purposes.
