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Body fat distribution in South Asian women and children
J Wardle1, K Wrightson, L Gibson
1Health Behaviour Unit, University of London, UK.
Objective:
To compare levels of abdominal fatness in South Asian and European mothers and children.
Subjects:
49 mothers and children from South Asian backgrounds and 63 mothers and children from European backgrounds who took part in a study on family health behaviours.
Measurements:
Anthropometric measures and abdominal fatness indices, including WHR and conicity.
Results:
Asian mothers were shorter, and lighter than European mothers, but had a higher WHR and a higher conicity. Among children, boys had a higher WHR and conicity than girls but there were no ethnic differences in fat distribution.
Conclusion:
Different patterns of fat distribution were observed in South Asian and European women, with South Asian women having a relatively large waist circumference, relative either to hip circumference (WHR) or to overall size (conicity). Sex differences in fat distribution, but not ethnic differences, were observed in the children. This suggests that the adult patterns of fat distribution may not be established at this stage.