Evaluation of Nutritional Status Using Body Fat, Physiological and Biochemical Parameters in Some Nigerian Women

Abstract

Some nutritional parameters were investigated in 62 healthy Nigerian female subjects of low socio-economic status. The percentage body fat (% BF) and some biochemical parameters, High and Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C and LDL-C), Total Plasma Cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), Uric Acid (UA), Urinary Creatinine (U-Cr), Creatinine in plasma (P-Cr) and Creatinine clearance (Cr-CI), were evaluated. Also determined were the Body Mass Index (BMI), Packed Cell Volume, Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure (BP-I, BP-2), various skin-fold measurements and body circumferences. Reference values were then established for these various parameters and the correlation between the various variables determined. When the subjects were stratified into four groups (underweight, normal, overweight, and obese) based on their BMI, significant differences (ANOVA, p < 0.05) were observed in LDL-C, Cr-CI, BP-I, as well as 10 out of the 13 anthropometric parameters. These differences could possibly provide diagnostic/prognostic insight for the four groups and the many important diseases associated with them. The hip circumference, in particular, has such a high correlation with both BMI and % BF that it is being suggested as a substitute for these two important parameters in Nigerian women of low socio-economic background.

Correlations between the levels of elements in the blood and some physiological / biochemical parameters in female roadside workers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

“…Although, Chen et al (2007)'s finding support the hypothesis that dietary selenium intake may reduce the incident of arsenic-related premalignant skin lesions among population exposed to arsenic through drinking water. Values of the various physiological and biochemical parameters have been previously published and discussed (Ojo et al, 2011).The Pearson's correlation among these important parameters of nutritional impor tance, anthropometric variables and levels of the seven heavy metals in subjects' blood is presented in table 4. Arsenic (As): The element correlated positively with blood Hg in all the nutritional status groups, except in the obese.…”

“…Pearson's product moment correlation was determined among all the parameters using Excel software, and the significance of the correlations were determined using the table of critical values for Pearson r provided by the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. The correlations were determined based on the values of physiological and biochemical parameters reported in Ojo et al (2011)…”

“…In previous publications, we had reported on the anthropometric predictive equations for percentage body fat in Nigerian women using some of the anthropometric results now presented (Oketayo and Ojo, 2011) while another paper reported the evaluation of the nutritional status using body fat, physiological and biochemical parameters in the same set of Nigerian women (Ojo et al, 2011). This present report compared two methods of body fat estimation and considered the possible correlations between the level of selected toxic m e t a l s i n t h e b l o o d a n d s o m e physiological/biochemical parameters of nutritional importance in Nigerian women.…”

Nutritional status and market activities of female traders in a major City South East, Nigeria

“…The high prevalence of overweight and obesity among female traders in this study could also be attributed to cultural norms in Africa where being fat is associated with affluence, beauty and healthy living (Okafor et al, 2015). Ojo et al (2011) reported that waist size reflects growing evidence of visceral fat surrounding the abdominal organs and also increases the rate of heart diseases. Using WHR classification, more than half (75.8%) was at risk of abdominal fat accumulation.…”