Ideal Body Shape in Young Japanese Women and Assessment of Excessive Leanness Based on Allometry

Abstract

The present study is aimed to clarify the degree of leanness desired by contemporary young Japanese women using questionnaires and to use allometry to define the body weight boundary between the excessively lean and the others for a given height. Questionnaires on ideal body shape were distributed to female college students living in Akita and the suburbs of Tokyo. Data for 578 respondents, aged 18 to 21 years-old, were analyzed. The questionnaire asked the subjects to report their current and ideal body shape and to make a qualitative self-assessment of their weight. On average, the perceived ideal weight was 5.2 kg lower than the current weight. The results also revealed that young women have a tendency to misunderstand their body shape and to regard themselves as heavier than they really were. Meanwhile, we defined leanness as a state of insufficient lean body mass (LBM, kg) in relation to height (Ht, cm). Allometric equation of LBM on Ht and the standard error of estimate (SEE) were calculated as LBMϭ3.87ϫ10 Ϫ3 ϫHt 1.826 and 1.09, respectively. The LBM boundary between the excessively lean and the others was determined using these values according to a statistical procedure comparing normal and abnormal values. The corresponding total body weight was estimated from the boundary LBM in the literature. Subsequently the body weight boundary for each height was tabulated in order to make young women reconsider weight control. The subjects were asked to assess the body weight boundary for their own height. The boundary values were found to be consistent with the sense of the subjects.

Eating behavior and perception of body shape in Japanese university students

“…In previous reports, females tended to aspire to a slender body shape [25–27], which is consistent with our present findings. It is interesting that young Japanese females still tend to aspire to a lean body even though they are not obese as compared with females in Europe or the US [3, 27].…”

“…It is interesting that young Japanese females still tend to aspire to a lean body even though they are not obese as compared with females in Europe or the US [3, 27]. The reason why non-obese Japanese females aspire to a lean body and the reason why underlying the gender difference in ideal body shape are not yet clear.…”

A comparative study of food habits and body shape perception of university students in Japan and Korea

“…Our results revealed that Japanese and Korean students desire body weights that are lower than their actual body weight, with Japanese students desiring thinner figures than Korean students. Similarly, previous research on young Japanese women reported that an ideal weight for their current height was an average of 5.2 kg less than current weight [ 12 ]. Body shape perception and ideal body shape are strongly influenced by socioeconomic factors.…”

Perceptions of women and health‐care providers in Tokyo of appropriate weight gain during pregnancy

“…The great interest in weight restriction among the pregnant women in our study might be related to the fact that they were from Japanese metropolitan areas. A number of previous studies demonstrated that Japanese women tended to overestimate their body size (Takasaki et al. , 2001; Tanaka et al.…”