Body composition in MesoAmerica

The fundamental paradigm for the region is short stature. Adult height is on the order of 160 cm for men and 140 cm for women. The timing of this delayed growth has been fixed to the first two years of life, when as much as 2 Z-scores of stature may be loss to the median of the NCHS reference. In the elderly of the region, we have the issue of being initially short and then suffering further loss of stature with age. The height/armspan ratio has proven instructive for exploring that change in height with age. It appears to be less than in Europeans. Demands of a rigorous agricultural lifestyle, the energy content and density of the diet, and the ravages of recurrent infection and parasitism comprise the environmental determinants of body composition in poor MesoAmerican population. They are conducive to a low storage of fat, with lean body mass being subject to response to infections. Because of the basic short stature but muscular maturity of children and adults, one questions whether the assumptions of proportionality of weight for height from the NCHS reference data apply, or whether MesoAmericans should be normally greater in weight for height than a comparably short North American. For some at the lower end of the stature scale, no international reference standards actually exist for adults. All than can be measured with microtoise, calliper, flexible tape and balance has long been recorded in MesoAmerican populations. Certain high-cost and facility- dependent technologies, such as nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and whole-body neutron activation analysis, are beyond the scientific economies of any part of the region. Dual energy x-ray absorbitometry instruments are available for clinical diagnosis in Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica, and could be turned to research ends. Underwater weighing has been practiced variously in MesoAmerica. Researchers in Guatemala have pioneered in the investigative use of bioelectrical impedance analysis to all ages from low-weight newborns to the very elderly; currently, introduction of the multifrequency BIA to Guatemalan laboratories, and application to the very young in dehydrated (diarrhoea) and overhydrated (kwashiorkor) states are being conducted.