International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences

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Percent Body Fat versus Body Mass Index among Ghanaian Adults in Different Districts

Received: 21 November 2014    Accepted: 12 December 2014    Published: 19 December 2014
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Abstract

Background: The debate regarding use of WHO body mass index (BMI) cut-offs for the assessment of nutritional status continues in the scientific community. That is, BMI may not be a true reflection of body composition. Researchers have investigated BMI and percent body fat (%BF) as risk factors for some chronic diseases. Objectives: The current study sought to evaluate the use of BMI to assess %BF and their relationship with high blood pressure (HBP) among Ghanaian adults. Methods: A total of 512 men and women were enrolled in a cross-sectional study, conducted in urban (Accra Metropolitan District [AMD; 276]) and peri-urban (Upper Manya Krobo District [UMKD; 236]) Ghana. BMI and %BF were determined and proportions of underweight, normal weight, and overweight/obese participants were compared. Relationship between BMI, %BF and HBP was investigated. Results and discussion: Mean BMI was greater for participants in the AMD than UMKD (25.69±4.85 and 24.51±4.89; p=0.007). %BF was also greater for men (p=0.001) and women (p=0.012) in the AMD than UMKD, respectively. Participants in the AMD (underweight-7%, normal weight-48%, overweight-24%, obese-21%) and UMKD (underweight-14%, normal weight-55%, overweight-17%, obese-15%) had different %BF (p=0.009) but not BMI (p=0.090). A significantly higher number of participants in the AMD had HBP (26%) than UMKD (19%) (p=0.038). Overweight/obese participants had significantly higher blood pressure compared to underweight/normal weight participants, in both AMD (by BMI; p=0.002 and by %BF; p<0.0001) and UMKD (by BMI and %BF; p<0.0001). BMI correlated moderately and significantly with %BF in both urban AMD (r=0.578; p<0.0001) and peri-urban UMKD (r=0.693; p<0.0001). Conclusion: BMI seems to be a good indicator for the assessment of adiposity among Ghanaian adults and may be used to assess adiposity in the absence of %BF.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25
Published in International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6, November 2014)
Page(s) 586-591
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Adiposity, BMI, Ghana, HBP, Obesity, Overweight, %BF

References
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[2] Wang C, Hou X-H, Zhang M-L, Bao Y-Q, Zou Y-H, Zhong W-H, Xiang K-S, Jia W-P. Comparison of body mass index with body fat percentage in the evaluation of obesity in Chinese. Biomedical and environmental sciences 2010; 23: 173-179.
[3] Kesavachandran CH, Bihari V and Mathur N. The normal range of body mass index with high body fat percentage among male residents of Lucknow city in North India. Indian J Med Res 2012 (135): 72-77.
[4] WHO expert consultation. Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations and its implications for policy and intervention strategies. Lancet 2004; 363: 157-163.
[5] Deurenberg P, Deurenberg-Yap M and Guricci S. Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat percent relationship. Obesity reviews 2002; 3: 141-146.
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[8] Choi J-W, Pai SH, Kim SK. Associations between total body fat and serum lipid concentrations in obese human adolescents. Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science 2002; 32 (3): 271-278.
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Author Information
  • Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana

  • Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana

  • Department of Foods and Nutrition, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 U.S.A.

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  • APA Style

    Helena Nti, Matilda Steiner-Asiedu, Alex Kojo Anderson. (2014). Percent Body Fat versus Body Mass Index among Ghanaian Adults in Different Districts. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences, 3(6), 586-591. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25

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    ACS Style

    Helena Nti; Matilda Steiner-Asiedu; Alex Kojo Anderson. Percent Body Fat versus Body Mass Index among Ghanaian Adults in Different Districts. Int. J. Nutr. Food Sci. 2014, 3(6), 586-591. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25

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    AMA Style

    Helena Nti, Matilda Steiner-Asiedu, Alex Kojo Anderson. Percent Body Fat versus Body Mass Index among Ghanaian Adults in Different Districts. Int J Nutr Food Sci. 2014;3(6):586-591. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25,
      author = {Helena Nti and Matilda Steiner-Asiedu and Alex Kojo Anderson},
      title = {Percent Body Fat versus Body Mass Index among Ghanaian Adults in Different Districts},
      journal = {International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {586-591},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnfs.20140306.25},
      abstract = {Background: The debate regarding use of WHO body mass index (BMI) cut-offs for the assessment of nutritional status continues in the scientific community. That is, BMI may not be a true reflection of body composition. Researchers have investigated BMI and percent body fat (%BF) as risk factors for some chronic diseases. Objectives: The current study sought to evaluate the use of BMI to assess %BF and their relationship with high blood pressure (HBP) among Ghanaian adults. Methods: A total of 512 men and women were enrolled in a cross-sectional study, conducted in urban (Accra Metropolitan District [AMD; 276]) and peri-urban (Upper Manya Krobo District [UMKD; 236]) Ghana. BMI and %BF were determined and proportions of underweight, normal weight, and overweight/obese participants were compared. Relationship between BMI, %BF and HBP was investigated. Results and discussion: Mean BMI was greater for participants in the AMD than UMKD (25.69±4.85 and 24.51±4.89; p=0.007). %BF was also greater for men (p=0.001) and women (p=0.012) in the AMD than UMKD, respectively. Participants in the AMD (underweight-7%, normal weight-48%, overweight-24%, obese-21%) and UMKD (underweight-14%, normal weight-55%, overweight-17%, obese-15%) had different %BF (p=0.009) but not BMI (p=0.090). A significantly higher number of participants in the AMD had HBP (26%) than UMKD (19%) (p=0.038). Overweight/obese participants had significantly higher blood pressure compared to underweight/normal weight participants, in both AMD (by BMI; p=0.002 and by %BF; p<0.0001) and UMKD (by BMI and %BF; p<0.0001). BMI correlated moderately and significantly with %BF in both urban AMD (r=0.578; p<0.0001) and peri-urban UMKD (r=0.693; p<0.0001). Conclusion: BMI seems to be a good indicator for the assessment of adiposity among Ghanaian adults and may be used to assess adiposity in the absence of %BF.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Percent Body Fat versus Body Mass Index among Ghanaian Adults in Different Districts
    AU  - Helena Nti
    AU  - Matilda Steiner-Asiedu
    AU  - Alex Kojo Anderson
    Y1  - 2014/12/19
    PY  - 2014
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25
    T2  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    SP  - 586
    EP  - 591
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2327-2716
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25
    AB  - Background: The debate regarding use of WHO body mass index (BMI) cut-offs for the assessment of nutritional status continues in the scientific community. That is, BMI may not be a true reflection of body composition. Researchers have investigated BMI and percent body fat (%BF) as risk factors for some chronic diseases. Objectives: The current study sought to evaluate the use of BMI to assess %BF and their relationship with high blood pressure (HBP) among Ghanaian adults. Methods: A total of 512 men and women were enrolled in a cross-sectional study, conducted in urban (Accra Metropolitan District [AMD; 276]) and peri-urban (Upper Manya Krobo District [UMKD; 236]) Ghana. BMI and %BF were determined and proportions of underweight, normal weight, and overweight/obese participants were compared. Relationship between BMI, %BF and HBP was investigated. Results and discussion: Mean BMI was greater for participants in the AMD than UMKD (25.69±4.85 and 24.51±4.89; p=0.007). %BF was also greater for men (p=0.001) and women (p=0.012) in the AMD than UMKD, respectively. Participants in the AMD (underweight-7%, normal weight-48%, overweight-24%, obese-21%) and UMKD (underweight-14%, normal weight-55%, overweight-17%, obese-15%) had different %BF (p=0.009) but not BMI (p=0.090). A significantly higher number of participants in the AMD had HBP (26%) than UMKD (19%) (p=0.038). Overweight/obese participants had significantly higher blood pressure compared to underweight/normal weight participants, in both AMD (by BMI; p=0.002 and by %BF; p<0.0001) and UMKD (by BMI and %BF; p<0.0001). BMI correlated moderately and significantly with %BF in both urban AMD (r=0.578; p<0.0001) and peri-urban UMKD (r=0.693; p<0.0001). Conclusion: BMI seems to be a good indicator for the assessment of adiposity among Ghanaian adults and may be used to assess adiposity in the absence of %BF.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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