BACKGROUND: Pdor findings have demonstrated that body mass of Minority students aged 18-22 years old in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China is slightly lower than concurrent nationwide level.OBJECTIVE: To further investigate the information with respect to healthy status including somatotype and body mass of 2 645 Minority students in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China and to search for correlated influencing factors.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A follow-up investigation was performed in the Guangxi University for Nationalities between December 2004 and December 2007.PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2 645 college students consisting of 1 337 males and 1 308 females who received health examination between years 2003 and 2005 in Guangxi University for Nationalities were recruited into this study. They were aged 18-20 years and were from 15 nationalities.METHODS: According to Health Standard of Students' Constitution (Tdal Program) formulated by the Ministry of Education of China and General Administration of Sport of China, examination indices included somatotype, skills, and physical constitution.Physical functions and body mass index (BMI) of 2 645 Minority students were followed up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Body height, body mass, vital capacity, bending forward while in a sitting position, standing long jump, and BMI.RESULTS: ①The mean increase rate of body height and body mass across 3 years for male college students in Grade 2003 in Guangxi University for Nationalities was 2.45% higher than the concurrent nationwide mean level, and somatotype development was in the peak phase; in addition, female students presented with a little thin body shape, demonstrating slightly poor somatotype development. ②When newly recruited into university, the vital capacity of male and female students was very poor,which was greatly lower than the concurrent nationwide level. Three years later, the vital capacity was increased by 11.55% and 27.72% for male and female students, respectively, both of which was higher than corresponding concurrent nationwide level.③ The function of bending forward while in a sitting position of male and female students was higher than the corresponding concurrent nationwide level. The function of bending forward while in a sitting position of male students tended to increase year by year, while the concurrent nationwide level of male students was gradually decreased, and the concurrent nationwide level of rural female students was gradually increased.④The function of standing long jump was greatly improved. The mean increase rate across 3 years was 18.15%, which was 2.61% higher than the concurrent nationwide level. The general standing long jump function of female students was poorer compared to the corresponding concurrent nationwide level. ⑤The general BMI of male and female Minority students was a little lower than the corresponding concurrent nationwide level (P< 0.01).CONCLUSION: All recruited 2 645 Minority students were in the peak of development, and the function of vital capacity was poorer compared to the concurrent nationwide level. BMI distribution was different in female and male students, and there were more female students presenting with lower body mass than male students, demonstrating a general poor nutritional state of college students.