Prevalence of Obesity, Leanness and Anorexia nervosa in Japanese Boys and Girls Aged 12–14 Years

Abstract

Body weight and height of Japanese boys and girls aged 12–14 years were measured to calculate the prevalence of obesity, leanness and anorexia nervosa. In boys, the prevalence of obesity as well as leanness was significantly higher in the areas where population density was lower and among the boys who attended schools with smaller numbers of pupils. In the girls, these findings were similar to the boys. On the other hand, anorexia nervosa was found in girls only more commonly in the areas with higher population density and in the larger schools. These results suggest that higher prevalence of obesity in certain subjects may be associated with increased numbers of leanness but not with anorexia nervosa.

Sexual dimorphism in relationship of serum leptin and relative weight for the standard in normal-weight, but not in overweight, children as well as adolescents

“…Measurement of body weight can clarify, though not completely, variations in fat tissues. On clinical basis, indices of weight (Rolland-Cachera et al, 1982;Malina et al, 1986;Ohzeki et al, 1990) such as body mass index (BMI) and %Wt have been most commonly used to screen undernourished or obese children and adolescents because obesity is defined as accumulation of excess adipocytes, which synthesize and secrete leptin into the circulation.…”

“…During infancy through adolescence, previous reports documented age-and sex-related changes as well as nutrition-induced variations in fat mass in Western countries (Tanner & Whitehouse, 1975;Malina et al, 1986;Gasser et al, 1994) and also in Asia including Japan (Ohzeki et al, 1990(Ohzeki et al, ,1996. After a decrease in percentage of body fat with age during early childhood, adolescent girls gain more adipose tissue than boys to exhibit secondary sexual characteristics (Tanner & Whitehouse, 1975;Ohzeki et al, 1996).…”

“…Because it is not so easy to evaluate specifically volume of fat tissue (Ohzeki et al, 1992;Tsukuda et al, 1994), body weight and some indices for overweight (RollandCachera et al, 1982;Ohzeki et al, 1989Ohzeki et al, ,1990) are commonly applied to estimate body fatness instead of measurement of adipose volume. Serum leptin levels are influenced by age and=or sex predominantly, but not completely, through alteration in volume of fat tissue (Blum et al, 1997;Carlsson et al, 1997;Ahmed et al, 1999;Nakanishi et al, 1999).…”

Adolescent-onset anorexia nervosa

“…Um deles encontrou que a prevalência de AN em escolas de 2 o grau na cidade de Kyoto era de 0,2%, mas nas áreas rurais ao redor, a prevalência foi 4 vezes menor (0,05%) 18 . Outro estudo reportou a taxa de prevalência de AN em meninas japonesas três vezes mais baixa nas áreas rurais, do que urbanas 19 . Obtendo resultados diferentes, alunas de escolas públicas da zona rural no sul da Itália foram avaliadas e encontrou-se prevalência semelhante a de áreas urbanas ou metropolitanas 20 .…”

Skinfold Thickness at Ulnar, Triceps, Subscapular, and Suprailiac Regions in 1,656 Japanese Children Aged 3-11 Years

“…In this study, normal ranges of SFT in Japanese children are demonstrated and their racial characteristics are compared to Caucasians. It is sug gested that children with EW of 10-30% are heterogenous and determination of fat volume is essential to confirm the diagno sis of obesity in these subjects.In recent years, obesity has been the most frequent nutritional problem in childhood [1][2][3][4][5] in developed countries instead of malnutri tion, which is of course still important in some parts of the world. Although morbid obesity is easy to diagnose by seeing patients' body habitus [ 1 ].…”