Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of high prevalence, considered a public health problem and is thought to be one cause of low birth weight and growth retardation.The purpose of this article was to review in literature the effects of asthma on the nutritional status in children.A systematic review was made by searching for articles in PubMed, SciELO and LILACS databases. Review articles, studies with adults or research that did not evaluate the effects of asthma in children were excluded. Hence original articles in humans were included.In the systematic review we found 901 articles in MEDLINE (1966-1996), 47 in LILACS and SciELO in the 16 Brazil, totaling 964 articles. Of these, 17 articles were selected.Evidence that asthma interferes in nutritional status can not be proven in this study. Rev Port Pneumol 2010; XVI (4): 617-626.