Objectives  To understand the nutritional status of middle school students in a town of Nanchang Prefecture and provide scientific evidence for administrative departments to make intervention measures.

Methods  The students in two representative middle schools of Nanchang were selected by a cluster random sampling method, and the height and weight of the students were measured.

Results  The percentage of overweight, obesity, normal weight, underweight and malnutrition was 4.71%, 9.37%, 31.08%, 47.94% and 6.89%,respectively.The nutritional status of students was different in different age, gender and grade groups (P<0.05).The positive rate for obesity in the 14 year-old group was the highest. Underweight accounted for the largest proportion in all age groups. The rates for obesity, underweight and malnutrition were higher in male than in female students. The rate of malnutrition was the highest in grade seven and the rate of obesity was the highest in grade nine.

Conclusions  The nutritional status of middle school students in Nanchang Prefecture was not optimistic. Health education and effective intervention measures should be taken by relevant departments to improve the nutritional status of middle school students.