Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women
Obesity prevalence and average body composition vary by US race and gender. Asian Americans have the lowest prevalence of obesity. Relying on body-mass index (BMI) to estimate obesity prevalence may misclassify subgroups that appear normally weighted but have excess body fat. We evaluated percentage...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Obesity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/790654 |
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| author | Catherine L. Carpenter Eric Yan Steve Chen Kurt Hong Adam Arechiga Woo S. Kim Max Deng Zhaoping Li David Heber |
| author_facet | Catherine L. Carpenter Eric Yan Steve Chen Kurt Hong Adam Arechiga Woo S. Kim Max Deng Zhaoping Li David Heber |
| author_sort | Catherine L. Carpenter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Obesity prevalence and average body composition vary by US race and gender. Asian Americans have the lowest prevalence of obesity. Relying on body-mass index (BMI) to estimate obesity prevalence may misclassify subgroups that appear normally weighted but have excess body fat. We evaluated percentage body fat (PBF) and BMI to determine whether BMI reflects PBF consistently across different races. 940 college students were recruited from a local public university over four consecutive years. We measured PBF by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), weight by physicians’ scales, and height with stadiometers. Our sample comprised Asians (49%), Caucasians (23%), Hispanics (7%), and Other (21%). Participants averaged 21.4 years old; BMI was 22.9 kg/m2; PBF was 24.8%. BMI and PBF varied significantly by race and gender (P value = 0.002 and 0.005 for men; 0.0009 and 0.0008 for women). Asian-American women had the lowest BMI (21.5 kg/m2) but the second highest PBF (27.8%). Linear association between BMI and PBF was the weakest () among Asian-American women and BMI had the poorest sensitivity (37%) to detect PBF. The high PBF with low BMI pattern exhibited by Asian-American women suggests that they could escape detection for obesity-related disease if BMI is the sole measure that estimates body composition. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-df4d5017cedb4cf1866d2883ece671f2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2090-0708 2090-0716 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Obesity |
| spelling | doaj-art-df4d5017cedb4cf1866d2883ece671f22025-08-20T03:26:21ZengWileyJournal of Obesity2090-07082090-07162013-01-01201310.1155/2013/790654790654Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and WomenCatherine L. Carpenter0Eric Yan1Steve Chen2Kurt Hong3Adam Arechiga4Woo S. Kim5Max Deng6Zhaoping Li7David Heber8Center for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USACenter for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 14-193 Warren Hall, 900 Veteran Avenue, P.O. Box 951742, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USAObesity prevalence and average body composition vary by US race and gender. Asian Americans have the lowest prevalence of obesity. Relying on body-mass index (BMI) to estimate obesity prevalence may misclassify subgroups that appear normally weighted but have excess body fat. We evaluated percentage body fat (PBF) and BMI to determine whether BMI reflects PBF consistently across different races. 940 college students were recruited from a local public university over four consecutive years. We measured PBF by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), weight by physicians’ scales, and height with stadiometers. Our sample comprised Asians (49%), Caucasians (23%), Hispanics (7%), and Other (21%). Participants averaged 21.4 years old; BMI was 22.9 kg/m2; PBF was 24.8%. BMI and PBF varied significantly by race and gender (P value = 0.002 and 0.005 for men; 0.0009 and 0.0008 for women). Asian-American women had the lowest BMI (21.5 kg/m2) but the second highest PBF (27.8%). Linear association between BMI and PBF was the weakest () among Asian-American women and BMI had the poorest sensitivity (37%) to detect PBF. The high PBF with low BMI pattern exhibited by Asian-American women suggests that they could escape detection for obesity-related disease if BMI is the sole measure that estimates body composition.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/790654 |
| spellingShingle | Catherine L. Carpenter Eric Yan Steve Chen Kurt Hong Adam Arechiga Woo S. Kim Max Deng Zhaoping Li David Heber Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women Journal of Obesity |
| title | Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women |
| title_full | Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women |
| title_fullStr | Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women |
| title_full_unstemmed | Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women |
| title_short | Body Fat and Body-Mass Index among a Multiethnic Sample of College-Age Men and Women |
| title_sort | body fat and body mass index among a multiethnic sample of college age men and women |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/790654 |
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