Body composition of rural and urban children from the Central Region of Spain

Abstract

Body composition components are considered in a cross-sectional sample of 2564 children (age range 6-14 years) from Central Spain. The sample was divided depending on rural or urban residence. Weight, and skinfold at the triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac site were measured. Body composition was represented by percentage fat (%F), lean body mass (LBM), fat mass (FM) and sum of skinfolds (SSK). Sex differences were found to be highly significant for all variables and rural-urban differences were small. Rural boys show slightly larger fat content, in %F, FM and SSK, than their urban peers, but significant (p < 0.05) differences appear only for SSK. No statistically significant environmental effect was found for LBM. The improvement of living conditions, the urban influence on the rural area and the degree of urbanization of the urban settlement are suggested as the main determinants influencing obtained results.

Fat and fat-free mass in Nepalese children: an assessment of nutritional status

“…Difference of FFM between ages 6 to 10 years was found to be higher in girls (7.2 kg) than that of boys (6.87 kg). Figure 1a and b shows that BF%-for-age curves of Nepalese boys and girls were placed below the second percentile values of UK children [13] and mean values of children of Baharin [16] and Spain [14]. Similarly, FFMfor-age curves of Nepalese children were placed below the mean values of children of Baharin [16] and Spain [14] ( Fig.…”

“…FFM was significantly correlated with height, weight, BMI, TRSF, and SSSF in girls but is significantly correlated with height, weight, BMI, and SSSF in boys (Table 2). [13] and mean values of Baharin [16] and Spain [14]. b Median body fat percentage (BF%) values of Nepalese girls with second percentile values of UK girls [13] and mean values of Baharin [16] and Spain [14] *p<0.001 …”

“…A poor nutritional status in the surveyed Nepalese children was evident from the location of age related growth curves of BF% and FFM with respect to the international reference curves. BF% of surveyed children was far lower than the mean values of the BF% of children of Baharin [16], Spain [14], and Switzerland [15]. McCarthy et al suggested that the second percentile value of BF% should be considered as a cut-off point for measuring of underfat in British children [13].…”

“…Several workers have conducted studies in children to estimate the body composition by measuring body fat percentage (BF%), fat mass (FM), and fat-free mass (FFM) [14,16]. The amount of body fat is a good indicator of health and nutritional status [4].…”

Study of somatotype in Italian children aged 6 to 10 years

“…) (Buffa et al, 1995;Davies, 1996;Hermanussen and Geiger-Benoit, 1995;Mesa et al, 1996;Neville et al, 1996;Norgan,1995;Riva and Molinari, 1995;Sanna et al, 1995;Toselli et al, 1995Toselli et al, , 1996Toselli et al, , 1997Zannoli and Morgese, 1996). The anthropometric approach has been oriented toward constitutional-type assessments.…”