The objective of the present study was to compare different methods for evaluating body fat percentage (BF%) (anthropometric methods and bioelectrical impedance analysis) in university students. Subjects were 653 healthy students whose mean age, body height, body weight and BMI were 21·1 (SD 2·5) years, 166·0 (SD 8·4) cm, 62·8 (SD 11·0) kg and 22·7 (SD 3·1) kg/m 2 , respectively. Results showed that BMI is a poor predictor of body fatness since the sensitivity was low in comparison with the reference method (Siri equation).The lowest values of BF% were obtained using the reference method (Siri equation) (21·8 (SD 6·8) %). The two methods with the highest agreement were Siri and Lean (mean difference, 20·5), followed by Brozek (mean difference, 21·4) and Deurenberg (mean difference, 2 1·5). The largest mean difference for BF% was between Siri and impedance (2 4·5). Although the methods and/or equations used in the present study have been commonly utilised to estimate BF% in young adults, the results must be interpreted with caution in the diagnosis and monitoring of overweight and obesity.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate body composition and body image (perception and satisfaction) in a group of young elite soccer players and to compare the data with those of a control group (age and BMI matched). Participants were 56 volunteer males whose mean age and BMI were 19.6 (SD 1.3) years and 23.3 (SD 1.1) kg/m 2 , respectively. Results showed that soccer players have a higher lean mass and lower fat mass than controls. Moreover, body perception (difference between current and actual image) was more accurate in controls than in soccer players, and the results suggest a tendency for soccer players to aspire to have more muscle mass and body fat. Soccer players perceived an ideal image with significantly higher body-fat percentage than their current and actual images. There were no body-dissatisfaction differences between groups, however. Although the results are necessarily limited by the small sample size, the findings should be of interest to coaches of young elite soccer teams.

BACKGROUND The results obtained to date concerning food groups, diet quality and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk vary according to criteria used and the study populations. AIM To study the relationships between food groups, diet quality and CRC risk, in an adult population of the Basque Country (North of Spain). METHODS This observational study included 308 patients diagnosed with CRC and 308 age- and sex-matched subjects as controls. During recruitment, dietary, anthropometric, lifestyle, socioeconomic, demographic and health status information was collected. Adherence to the dietary recommendations was evaluated utilizing the Healthy Eating Index for the Spanish Diet and the MedDietScore. Conditional logistic regressions were used to evaluate the associations of food group intakes, diet quality scores, categorized in tertiles, with CRC risk. RESULTS The adjusted models for potential confounding factors showed a direct association between milk and dairy products consumption, in particular high-fat cheeses [odds ratio (OR) third tertile vs first tertile = 1.87, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.11-3.16], and CRC risk. While the consumption of fiber-containing foods, especially whole grains (OR third tertile vs first tertile = 0.62, 95%CI: 0.39-0.98), and fatty fish (OR third tertile vs first tertile = 0.53, 95%CI: 0.27-0.99) was associated with a lower risk for CRC. Moreover, higher MD adherence was associated with a reduced CRC risk in adjusted models (OR third tertile vs first tertile = 0.40, 95%CI: 0.20-0.80). CONCLUSION Direct associations were found for high-fat cheese, whereas an inverse relation was reported for fiber-containing foods and fatty fish, as well as adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern.

The present study analyzes the prevalence of overweight/obesity in a sample of young adults from the University of the Basque Country (Spain), and tests the efficiency of the silhouettes to predict overweight/obesity. This cross‐sectional study was conducted in a sample of volunteer university students from the University of the Basque Country (356 men and 745 women, age: 18–33 years), who came to the Physical Anthropology laboratory where a standardized questionnaire was administered and anthropometric measurements were taken by a well‐trained anthropometrist. Height and weight were obtained. BMI was calculated as weight/height2 (kg/m2) and it was used as a reference method. Using a questionnaire, based on the standard figural stimuli, subjects were asked to choose the silhouette which was closest to his/her usual appearance (current body size). The accuracy of the Williamson et al.'s silhouettes as an overweight‐obesity indicator was analyzed by gender‐specific receiver operating curve (ROC). The cutoff figure to distinguish between nonoverweight and overweight‐obese individuals corresponded to number 7 in men and 6 in women. These cutoff values matched optimal sensitivity and specificity, with few nonoverweight subjects selecting silhouettes bigger than 7 in the case of men or 6 for women. In conclusion, the figural stimuli allows the identification of populations at overweight/obesity risk with the simple use of silhouettes, at least in this rank of age, where the overweight and obesity are yet little frequent.

Given the significant population diversity in genetic variation, we aimed to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously identified in studies of colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility were also relevant to the population of the Basque Country (North of Spain). We genotyped 230 CRC cases and 230 healthy controls for 48 previously reported CRC-susceptibility SNPs. Only the rs6687758 in DUPS10 exhibited a statistically significant association with CRC risk based on the crude analysis. The rs6687758 AG genotype conferred about 2.13-fold increased risk for CRC compared to the AA genotype. Moreover, we found significant associations in cases between smoking status, physical activity, and the rs6687758 SNP. The results of a Genetic Risk Score (GRS) showed that the risk alleles were more frequent in cases than controls and the score was associated with CRC in crude analysis. In conclusion, we have confirmed a CRC susceptibility locus and the existence of associations between modifiable factors and the rs6687758 SNP; moreover, the GRS was associated with CRC. However, further experimental validations are needed to establish the role of this SNP, the function of the gene identified, as well as the contribution of the interaction between environmental factors and this locusto the risk of CRC.