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Association between body mass index and body fat in 9–11-year-old children from countries spanning a range of human development

International Journal of Obesity Supplements volume 5, pages S43–S46 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

The purpose was to assess associations between body mass index (BMI) and body fat in a multinational sample of 9–11-year-old children. The sample included 7265 children from countries ranging in human development. Total body fat (TBF) and percentage body fat (PBF) were measured with a Tanita SC-240 scale and BMI z-scores (BMIz) and percentiles were computed using reference data from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. Mean PBF at BMIz values of −1, 0 and +1 were estimated using multilevel models. Correlations between BMI and TBF were >0.90 in all countries, and correlations between BMI and PBF ranged from 0.76 to 0.96. Boys from India had higher PBF than boys from several other countries at all levels of BMIz. Kenyan girls had lower levels of PBF than girls from several other countries at all levels of BMIz. Boys and girls from Colombia had higher values of PBF at BMIz=−1, whereas Colombian boys at BMIz 0 and +1 also had higher values of PBF than boys in other countries. Our results show a consistently high correlation between BMI and adiposity in children from countries representing a wide range of human development.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ISCOLE External Advisory Board and the ISCOLE participants and their families who made this study possible. A membership list of the ISCOLE Research Group and External Advisory Board is included in Katzmarzyk et al. (this issue). ISCOLE was funded by The Coca-Cola Company.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    P T Katzmarzyk, T V Barreira, S T Broyles, G Hu, C Tudor-Locke & T S Church

  2. Department of Exercise Science, University of Syracuse, Syracuse, NY, USA

    T V Barreira

  3. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    J-P Chaput & M S Tremblay

  4. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    M Fogelholm

  5. St Johns Research Institute, Bangalore, India

    R Kuriyan & A Kurpad

  6. Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    E V Lambert

  7. Alliance for Research in Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C Maher & T Olds

  8. CIFI2D, Faculdade de Desporto, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    J Maia

  9. Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    V Matsudo

  10. Department of Recreation Management and Exercise Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    V Onywera

  11. School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    O L Sarmiento

  12. Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    M Standage

  13. Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    C Tudor-Locke

  14. Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin, China

    P Zhao

Authors
  1. P T Katzmarzyk
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  2. T V Barreira
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  3. S T Broyles
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  4. J-P Chaput
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  5. M Fogelholm
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  6. G Hu
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  7. R Kuriyan
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  8. A Kurpad
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  9. E V Lambert
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  10. C Maher
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  11. J Maia
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  12. V Matsudo
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  13. T Olds
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  14. V Onywera
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  15. O L Sarmiento
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  16. M Standage
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  17. M S Tremblay
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  18. C Tudor-Locke
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  19. P Zhao
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  20. T S Church
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for the ISCOLE Research Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P T Katzmarzyk.

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Competing interests

MF has received a research grant from Fazer Finland and has received an honorarium for speaking for Merck. AK has been a member of the Advisory Boards of Dupont and McCain Foods. RK has received a research grant from Abbott Nutrition Research and Development. VM is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Actigraph and has received an honorarium for speaking for The Coca-Cola Company. TO has received an honorarium for speaking for The Coca-Cola Company. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Katzmarzyk, P., Barreira, T., Broyles, S. et al. Association between body mass index and body fat in 9–11-year-old children from countries spanning a range of human development. Int J Obes Supp 5 (Suppl 2), S43–S46 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijosup.2015.18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijosup.2015.18

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