Following our previous observation of an aversion to weight reduction in Nigerians with type 2 diabetes, we measured several parameters of body dimensions and preferences in otherwise healthy adults in three communities to study the phenomenon further. The study population of 524 participants (304 F) was 99.8% of Yoruba ethnic origin with a mean age of 43.9 ± 17.2 years. Females had a significantly (p > 0.001) higher body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference compared to the males; the values being 24.55 ± 5.5 vs. 21.75 ± 3.71 kg/m(2); 84.98 ± 12.67 vs. 80.92 ± 9.85 cm; 96.32 ± 12.94 vs. 89.36 ± 8.06 cm, respectively. There was a high level of satisfaction amongst respondents with their body size (Kendall's t = 0.52, p < 0.001) which they also predicted with a high degree of certainty even without the prior use of a weighing scale. The relationship between current body size (CBI) and BMI emerged as CBI = 1.22 + 0.32 BMI. In the 41% of respondents who expressed unhappiness with their current body size, there was a strong aversion for a smaller body size and the preference was often for a bigger body figure. Strikingly, many more women than men were less dissatisfied with their bigger body sizes. Stepwise regression indicated that CBI and gender were the two most important variables that best related to casual blood sugar (RBS) among the factors entered. The mathematical relationship between these variables that emerged was: [Formula: see text] where gender = 0 for male and 1 for female. The results suggest that larger body sizes were positively viewed in these communities consistent with our previous observations in type 2 diabetes.

Background Our previous work showed that many individuals with type 2 diabetes and in the background population may prefer larger body sizes. This prompted us to study the interaction between body size, body size perception and blood pressure.Methods Anthropometric variables, body size perception and blood pressure were measured in adults of three Nigerian communities. The results were subjected to tests of correlation and regression to determine any association/ functional relationship between predictor variables and blood pressure.Results Participants with elevated blood pressure were older (52.75 vs. 39.58 years) and had a higher BMI (24.50 vs. 22.84), waist circumference (86.69 vs. 81.57) and hip circumference (95.23 vs. 92.49) compared with normotensives. There were significant (P < 0.05) correlations between systolic blood pressure and age (0.401), weight (0.13), BMI (0.182), waist circumference (0.231), hip circumference (0.132), height (0.15), current body size perception (0.181), preferred body size (0.119) and preferred body size of the opposite gender (0.14). For normotensives, a 1 cm increment in waist circumference was associated with an increase in systolic blood pressure by 0.35 mmHg in those younger than 50 years of age. In older participants, an increase in BMI by 1 kg/m 2 led to an increase in systolic blood pressure by 1.1 mmHg. Thirty-two per cent of the participants had hypertension. Less than 10% of the interindividual differences in blood pressure resulted from variations in body dimensions/or body size perception. Significantly, 66.5 versus 51.9% of hypertensive and normotensive individuals, respectively, desired a larger body size for self/spouse. ConclusionThe results indicated a dominant preference for larger body sizes, whereas body dimension predicted blood pressure only to a very limited degree. Cardiovasc Endocrinol 4:53-59