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  • Original Article
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Clinical Studies and Practice

Associations between physical activity and BMI, body fatness, and visceral adiposity in overweight or obese Latino and non-Latino adults

International Journal of Obesity volume 41, pages 873–877 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

Although several studies have reported associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), body fatness and visceral adipose tissue (VAT), the extent to which associations differ among Latinos and non-Latinos remains unclear. This study evaluated the associations between body composition and MVPA in Latino and non-Latino adults.

Subjects/methods:

An exploratory, cross-sectional analysis was conducted using baseline data collected from 298 overweight adults enrolled in a 12-month randomized controlled trial that tested the efficacy of text messaging to improve weight loss. MVPA, body fatness and VAT were assessed by waist-worn accelerometry, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and DXA-derived software (GE CoreScan GE, Madison, WI, USA), respectively. Participants with <5 days of accelerometry data or missing DXA data were excluded; 236 participants had complete data. Multivariable linear regression assessed associations between body composition and MVPA per day, defined as time in MVPA, bouts of MVPA (time per bout ⩾10 min), non-bouts of MVPA (time per bout <10 min) and meeting the 150-min MVPA guideline. The modifying influence of ethnicity was modeled with a multiplicative interaction term.

Results:

The interaction between ethnicity and MVPA in predicting percent body fat was significant (P=0.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.58, 4.43)) such that a given increase in MVPA was associated with a greater decline in total body fat in non-Latinos compared with Latinos (adjusted for age, sex and accelerometer wear time). There was no interaction between ethnicity and MVPA in predicting VAT (g) (P=0.78, 95% CI (−205.74, 273.17)) and body mass index (BMI) (P=0.18, 95% CI (−0.49, 2.26)).

Conclusions:

An increase in MVPA was associated with a larger decrease in body fat, but neither BMI nor VAT, in non-Latinos compared with Latinos. This suggests that changes in VAT and BMI in response to MVPA may be less influenced by ethnicity than is total body fatness.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health, grant 5T35HL007491. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    N Cameron

  2. Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    J Godino, J F Nichols, D Wing, L Hill & K Patrick

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Correspondence to N Cameron.

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Cameron, N., Godino, J., Nichols, J. et al. Associations between physical activity and BMI, body fatness, and visceral adiposity in overweight or obese Latino and non-Latino adults. Int J Obes 41, 873–877 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.49

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