A Comparative Study on Fat Pattern between Tribal and Non-tribal Girls of Tripura, North-East India

Abstract

Objective To examine the body composition including fat patterning among 744 school going Chakma tribal and non- tribal Bengali girls (366 Chakma tribal and 378 Bengali girls), aged 6-12y from North, Unokoti, Dhalai and South District of Tripura. Methods The subjects were selected using cluster-random sampling method. The anthropometric measurements of height, weight, triceps and subscapular skinfold were recorded. The body mass index (BMI) was also calculated. The measurements were used to estimate percent body fat (PBF) and fat-free mass (FFM) from skinfolds. Fat mass (FM) and FFM were each divided by height squared to produce the fat-mass index (FMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI). Body composition was assessed using FM, FFM, FMI and FFMI. Results Age-specific mean values of FM ranged from 2.65-6.75 kg (tribal) and 1.92-6.45 kg (non-tribal). Age-specific mean values of FFM ranged from 17.19-29.61 kg for tribals and 15.41-28.44 kg for non-tribals respectively. PBF of tribals was significantly ( p < 0.01) higher (except 10 y) than non-tribals. FFM and PBF significantly ( p < 0.01) related with all anthropometric variables. Conclusions This study suggested a clear evidence of ethnic variation in fat patterning; Chakma tribal girls showing a greater subcutaneous adiposity in comparison with Bengali girls. These results are important for future investigations in clinical and epidemiological studies to identify the risk of lower or higher adiposity and body composition.

Age Variations and Sexual Dimorphism in Adiposity and Body Composition Among Tribal Adolescents of Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

“…However, another recent study found that there were no significant sex differences among Santhal children (FFM: boys-22.2 kg; girls-21.2 kg) of Purulia, West Bengal, and their mean values were lower than the present study(Dutta Chowdhury et al, 2007).The BMI was highly correlated with body composition parameters in both sexes and the magnitude was greater among girls (except in FFMI). Similar results had been earlier reported from Santhals of Purulia (Dutta Chowdhury et al, 2007), Moroccan adolescents(Mehdad et al, 2012), adolescents from Imphal, Manipur(Rajkumari et al, 2012), rural adolescent girls from Kabri Anglong, Assam(Sharma & Mondal, 2018) and Chakmas of Tripura(Saha & Sil, 2019).…”

Body Composition in Tribal Indian Girls from the North-East India

“…There is very little data on body composition of tribal girls, though tribals make up around 8.6% of the total population. In the current study by Saha et al, in 6-12 y-old Chakma girls, authors found that girls from the Chakma tribe from Tripura had higher body fat till around 9 y of age, after which they were comparable to non-tribal Bengali girls [2]. Santhal girls had a body fat percentage which was much lower than that of the Chakma girls at all age groups [3], including at 12 y (10.8% in Santhal girls vs. 18.4% in Chakma girls).…”

“…Body fat tends to increase with age in girls and various factors such as dietary intake, physical activity, pubertal stage and ethnicity influence the body composition. India being a diverse country, body composition of Indian girls is likely to be different in different geographical regions, such as is reported in the current study [2].…”

Role of body visceral fat in hypertension and dyslipidemia among the diabetic and nondiabetic ethnic population of Tripura—A comparative study

“…in 2019 suggested a clear evidence of ethnic variation in fat patterning where Chakma tribal girls showed a greater subcutaneous adiposity in comparison with Bengali girls. [ 14 ]…”