V̇ O 2 max and nutritional status in Urban Colombian girls and women

Maximal oxygen consumption (V̇ O 2 max, liters min^-1 ) was measured in 60 nutritionally normal and 74 marginally undernourished girls 6-16 years of age and 27 upper socioeconomic (UEC) women and 22 women living in economically deprived conditions (LEC) in Cali, Colombia. All girls were recruited from the LEC neighborhoods. Lower values for V̇ O 2 max (liters min^-1 ) in undernourished girls were replaced by a nutritionally normal status in adulthood in which V̇ O 2 max was not significantly different from that measured in UEC women. Physical condition varied from average to fair in the younger to older subjects compared to women from industrialized countries. When V̇ O 2 max is expressed as ml min^-1 kg^-1 of lean body mass (LBM), all age and group effects disappear, confirming regression analysis which demonstrated a close relationship (r² = 0.81) between V̇ O 2 max (liters min^-1 ) and LBM in which there were no significant differences between nutritional or socioeconomic groups. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.