Physical growth of St. Lawrence Island Eskimos: Body size, proportion, and composition

Abstract

Growth patterns of body size, proportion, and composition were analyzed in 57 male and 56 female Eskimos from St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, ranging in age from 1.23 through 19.82 years. Age-groups means for whites and blacks of the U.S. Health Examination Survey served as reference data. Relative to HES data, the Eskimo sample were shorter with lower values for leg length, while there were no differences from the reference values for sitting height. The Eskimos also had higher values of Quetelet's Index, the sitting height/height ratio, and the upper arm muscle circumference, while there were no differences in body weight or triceps skinfold thickness. Differences from the reference data were more pronounced in males than in females. The growth patterns for size and body proportion are in conformity with known relationships between morphology and climate.

Cultural competency matters

“…Jamison supported the concept of special physical adaptation of the Eskimo population from temperature changes. Johnson et al (1982) found that a higher lean body mass is a physical adaptation that provides an increased amount of heat producing tissue, and reported similar findings for Eskimos and Inuit of the Arctic.…”

Growth and fitness of Canadian inuit: Secular trends, 1970–1990

“…hard and commented that although the Igloolik Inuit had a large ratio of body mass to stature, this reflected a short stature and well-developed muscles rather than obesity. Johnston et al (1982) likewise noted that St. Lawrence Island Eskimos had a larger BMI than either white or black U.S. citizens, but suggested that this was due largely to a short leg length. Jamison (1990) further commented that Inuithnupiat children established a high weight for stature ratio early in life, and that this characteris-…”

“…Females k e group (years) 1969-1970 1979-1980 1989-1990 1969-1970 1979-1980 1989-1990 tic had been maintained over the past 50 years, despite secular trends to an increase of body mass and particularly of stature. The BMI is not a particularly satisfactory measure of obesity in Inuit populations for several reasons: (1) the ratio of sitting height to stature differs from that seen in Caucasian populations (Auger et al, 1980;Johnston et al, 1982), (2) the stature of older adolescents may be modified by vertebral compression, as discussed above (Shephard et al, 1984;Rode and Shephard, 19941, and (3) the proportion of lean tissue, initially high, has probably declined substantially over the period of interest. BMIs for a representative sample of Canadian children (Canada Fitness Survey, 1981) were also appreciably higher than in a U.S. national sample (Hamill et al, 1977), due to a shorter stature in the young Canadians and a greater body mass in older adolescent Canadians ( Table 7).…”

“…Secular trends in auxology for both developed and some developing countries have been reviewed by Malina (1990). Patterns of growth and development among the circumpolar Inuit are of interest because of their small adult size (Johnston et al, 1982;Shephard, 19801, secular trends to a change of adult size (Jamison, 1990; Lewin et al, 1970; Rode and Shephard, 1994; Shephard et al, 1984), and the high levels of physical fitness observed among adult members of this population when the first physiological observations were made in [1969][1970] (Rode and Shephard, 1971). During the subsequent 20 years, most of the circumpolar communities of the Canadian North West Territories (Nunavuk) have undergone a rapid acculturation to a diet and lifestyle typical of southern Canadians.…”

Anthropometric Variation Among Bering Sea Natives

“…These anthropometric measurements were originally collected as part of a growth and development study of Bering Sea children (Johnston et al 1982). Original data sheets used by Laughlin were made available to us by the Museum of the Aleutians in Unalaska, Alaska.…”