The Association of Body Fat and Leisure Time Physical Activity Called into Question for Asian Indians

Thrifty genotypes may predispose to type 2 diabetes and body fat (%BF) excess through a differentiated relationship between physical activity and body fat. We explored this hypothesis in Asian Indians, a population thought to be thrifty.

Three hundred and nine Guadeloupian adolescents responded to the modifiable activity questionnaire. Their body fat was assessed by bioimpedancemetry. We first studied the relationship between %BF and leisure time physical activity (LTPA). We then explored the associations of ethnicity with this relationship in a subgroup of 93 Asian Indians matched with 93 controls for age, sex, and LTPA class. The alpha risk retained was .05.

The analyses showed that Asian Indians had higher %BF even when matched with controls for age, sex and LTPA quartile, and the relationship between LTPA and %BF observed in controls was not evidenced in Asian Indians.

The higher %BF in Asian Indians remained significant even when they were matched with controls for age, sex and LTPA quartile, and their LTPA was not associated ‒ or was at least less robustly associated ‒ with %BF. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of thriftiness in Asian Indians, with the weaker relationship of high LTPA and low %BF a possible path to thriftiness.