[A comparative study of % fat and living style on nepalese]

Measurements of %Fat, nutrient intake and maximal aerobic power (MAP) were carried out on Nepalese to clarify the cause of obesity attended with modernization. One hundred thirty-two males (KV) who have a natural living style, 20-84 years of age, in rural district and 237 males who have a living style affected by the rapid urbanization, in surburban district were selected as subjects. The subjects of surburban district were divided into two groups. One of them included 147 farmers (BF) who engage in not mechanized farming, 20-73 years of age. Another group included 90 students and wage laborers (BNF) who go to and from Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal), 20-57 years of age. %Fat was estimated from skinfold thickness according to the method of Nagamine (1975). The survey for the nutrient intake was carried out by the 24-hour recall method to obtain the individual food consumption using the food models. Measurement of MAP was made indirectly by the modified of Margaria et al (1965). The main results are summarized as follows. 1) Mean %Fat and the appearance rates of obesity in each age group showed high values in following order: BNF greater than BF greater than KV. 2) Mean caloric intake in KV was higher than those in BF and in BNF an almost all age groups and no significant difference was found between BF and BNF in all age groups. 3) No significant differences in mean fat intake and in mean animal fat intake among all groups were found in almost all age groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)