Are Eskimos more or less obese than other Canadians? A comparison of skinfold thickness and ponderal index in Canadian Eskimos

Abstract

Skinfold thickness, height, and weight measurements were recorded from 1964 through 1970 for more than 1,000 adult Eskimos who resided in the Central and Eastern Canadian Arctic. Among the men and women of all age groups, 70 to 83% had a low ponderal index (PI less than 12.5). Nutrition Canada reported similar rates in 200 adult Eskimos and therefore considered Eskimos, especially Eskimo men, as more obese than other Canadians. Thin skinfolds were found in most Eskimo men, including those with a low PI. The usefulness of the PI or other height/weight indices for appraisal of body fatness and prevalence of obesity in different population groups is questioned. Marked sex differences were found in the ratio of the skinfold thickness over the triceps to the mean thickness of two sites on the trunk (subscapular and suprailiac). Thus, use of the arm plus trunk sites provides important information about subcutaneous fat distribution, and comparisons of prevalence of obesity in different sex and age groups based only on arm skinfold measurements may be inappropriate.

Obesity and relative subcutaneous fat distribution among Canadians of First Nation and European ancestry

“…Among Canadian Eskimos, a truncal fat distribution (ratio of tricepsasubscapular suprailiac skinfolds) was greater in women than men. 26 The results are also somewhat consistent with the data presented by Johnston et al 27 for urban Native American school children, which indicated that Native American females, but not males, tend to carry proportionally more subcutaneous fat on the trunk, relative to reference data.…”

Emerging obesity among preschool-aged Canadian Inuit children: results from the Nunavut Inuit Child Health Survey

“…Calls for an Inuit-specific growth reference (3) largely rest on the pattern of low height-forweight due to high sitting-to-standing height ratios observed in past studies of Inuit populations (6)(7)(8)16). However in a longitudinal study of Greenland Inuit children, BeckerChristensen reports that stature remains consistent with Danish reference values until the age of 14 years in boys and 11 years in girls, when decreased standing height gives rise to a higher sitting height ratio compared to Danish children (22).…”

Morphological Aspects and the Ecological and Mechanical Consequences of Fat Deposition in Wild Vertebrates

“…Schaeffer (239) fo und that the Eskimos's mean skinfold thickness was 5.8-6.5 mm, compared to 15. 1-17.2 mm fo r young non-Eskimo adults in Toronto.…”