An eight-week mat Pilates exercise programme may contradict or even reverse some of the most serious consequences of ageing associated with an increased fat mass and reduced lean body mass in elderly females.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between the body composition characteristics, body mass index (BMI), sum of skinfolds (SSF), % body fat (%BF), fat-free mass (FFM) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and nine physical fitness items in undernourished rural primary school children in Ellisras, South Africa. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: The study consisted of 462 boys and 393 girls who were aged 7-14 y. Measurements: Five body composition measures were assessed: BMI, SSF, %BF, FFM and WHR. Nine physical fitness test items were assessed: standing long jump, bent arm hang, sit-ups, 10 Â 5 m shuttle run, 50 m sprint, 1600 m run, flamingo balance, sit and reach, plate tapping. Results: BMI was highly correlated with FFM (r ¼ 0.7, Po0.001). In line with findings from Western countries, regression coefficients (B) showed that children with higher BMI or SSF performed worse in bent arm hang (girls, B ¼ À0.84, Po0.001, and B ¼ À0.06, P ¼ 0.02, respectively) and in 1600 m run (B ¼ 6.68, Po0.001). BMI was significantly associated with flamingo balance (B ¼ 0.26, P ¼ 0.04). WHR was positively associated with bent arm hang (B ¼ 9.37, P ¼ 0.03), and inversely with sit and reach (B ¼ À7.48, P ¼ 0.01). In contrast, significant relationships were found between BMI and standing long jump (B ¼ 0.74, P ¼ 0.04), sit and reach (B ¼ 0.51, Po0.001), flamingo balance (B ¼ 0.26, P ¼ 0.04) and plate tapping (B ¼ À19, P ¼ 0.01). SSF was significantly associated with sit and reach (B ¼ 0.04, P ¼ 0.03). Significant inverse associations were found between FFM and bent arm hang (girls, B ¼ À0.06, P ¼ 0.05), 1600 m run (girls, B ¼ À2.33, P ¼ 0.003) and 50 m run (boys, B ¼ À0.11, P ¼ 0.006). FFM was significantly associated with standing long jump (boys, B ¼ 0.99, Po0.001; girls, B ¼ 0.73, Po0.001), flamingo balance (B ¼ 0.17, Po0.001), and with sit and reach (boys, B ¼ 0.59, P ¼ 0.03).

BackgroundNo information exists on the nutritional status of primary school children residing in Makurdi, Nigeria. It is envisaged that the data could serve as baseline data for future studies, as well as inform public health policy. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of malnutrition among urban school children in Makurdi, Nigeria.MethodsHeight and weight of 2015 (979 boys and 1036 girls), aged 9-12 years, attending public primary school in Makurdi were measured and the body mass index (BMI) calculated. Anthropometric indices of weight-for-age (WA) and height-for-age (HA) were used to estimate the children's nutritional status. The BMI thinness classification was also calculated.ResultsUnderweight (WAZ < -2) and stunting (HAZ < -2) occurred in 43.4% and 52.7%, respectively. WAZ and HAZ mean scores of the children were -0.91(SD = 0.43) and -0.83 (SD = 0.54), respectively. Boys were more underweight (48.8%) than girls (38.5%), and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.024; p < 0.05). Conversely, girls tend to be more stunted (56.8%) compared to boys (48.4%) (p = 0.004; p < 0.05). Normal WAZ and HAZ occurred in 54.6% and 44.2% of the children, respectively. Using the 2007 World Health Organisation BMI thinness classification, majority of the children exhibited Grade 1 thinness (77.3%), which was predominant at all ages (9-12 years) in both boys and girls. Gender wise, 79.8% boys and 75.0% girls fall within the Grade I thinness category. Based on the WHO classification, severe malnutrition occurred in 31.3% of the children.ConclusionsThere is severe malnutrition among the school children living in Makurdi. Most of the children are underweight, stunted and thinned. As such, providing community education on environmental sanitation and personal hygienic practices, proper child rearing, breast-feeding and weaning practices would possibly reverse the trends.

Abstractobjective To evaluate demographic variation in the prevalence of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) among 3240 children and adolescents (girls: n = 1714; boys: n = 1526) aged 9-16 years attending primary and secondary schools in Benue State of Nigeria.methods Participants' anthropometric characteristics (body weight, stature, body mass index: BMI and lean body mass: LBM) were determined using standard protocols. OW and OB were estimated using International Obesity task Force diagnostic criteria. Data were analysed with one-way anova and binary logistic regression method.results Overall, 88.5%, 9.7% and 1.8% of the adolescents had normal BMI and were OW and obese, respectively. Prevalence of OW was higher among girls (20.3%) than boys (16.2%), whereas a relatively higher incidence of OB was noted among the boys (3.5%). Girls in urban areas had a significantly higher BMI (t 524 = 3.61, P = 0.002) than their rural peers, but the rural girls were more significantly OW than their urban counterparts (BMI: t 1186 = 2.506). Logistic regression models assessing the influence of age, gender and location on OW ⁄ OB in children (a 2 (3, N = 1014) = 6.185, P = 0.103) and adolescents (a 2 (3, N = 2226) = 1.435, P = 0.697) did not turn up significant results. In the gender-specific analysis, the younger boys' model was also not significant (a 2 (2, N = 488) = 1.295, P = 0.523) in contrast to the girls' (a 2 (2, N = 526) = 15.637, P = 0.0005), thus discriminating between OW and healthy weight among the children. Overall, the model explained 2.9-4.4% of the variance in weight status and correctly classified 76.8% of the cases. Age wise, the model yielded a significant odds ratio of 1.49, suggesting that the likelihood of being OW increases by a factor of 1.5 with a unit increase in age. Also, the likelihood of an urban girl becoming OW or obese was 0.57 times that of a rural girl.conclusions In general, girls in urban areas had higher prevalence of OW and OB than girls in rural settings. Among the boys, similar but less marked trends were found, except that the rural boys tended to be more OW on average than their peers in urban areas. In view of its public health significance, it is important to periodically evaluate the prevalence of weight disorders in children and adolescents so that appropriate preventative strategies can be instituted.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effects of mat Pilates on resting heart rate, resting blood pressure and fasting blood glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides in elderly women. Methodology: Fifty sedentary, apparently healthy females aged 60 and older were randomly assigned into a control (CG, n = 25) or an intervention (IG, n = 25) group. The IG took part in an eight-week progressive mat Pilates exercise program, three times weekly while the CG did not take part in any structured exercises throughout the eight-week period. All subjects underwent pre- and post-tests in which cardiometabolic parameters were assessed. Results: In the eight-week mat Pilates program, the IG only demonstrated a significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in systolic BP (p = 0.040) from 135.84 ± 14.66mmHg to 128.80 ± 16.36mmHg and a significant increase in blood glucose (p = 0.000) from 5.07 ± 0.46mmol.L-1 to 5.83 ± 0.57mmol.L-1, whereas resting HR (p = 0.148) (from 68.80 ± 12.58beats.min-1 to 73.20 ± 11.46beats.min-1), resting diastolic BP (p = 0.342) (from 75.64 ± 10.10mmHg to 77.44 ± 9.32mmHg), blood TC (p = 0.073) (from 5.37 ± 0.99mmol.L-1 to 5.67 ± 1.04mmol.L-1) and blood TG (p = 0.384) (from 1.77 ± 0.88mmol.L-1 to 1.92 ± 0.87mmol.L-1) did not produce any significant changes. Conclusion: Due to the contradictory nature of the cardiometabolic variables (except systolic BP) with the findings of previous studies, it is difficult to establish a case for using Pilates as a substitute for more conventional forms of exercising when exclusively attempting to favourably alter cardiometabolic parameters at least among the elderly women in our sample.