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

Helena Nti; Matilda Steiner-Asiedu; Alex Kojo Anderson

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25

| Peer-Reviewed

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

Helena Nti, Matilda Steiner-Asiedu, Alex Kojo Anderson

Published in International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6)

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

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

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.

Published in	International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.25
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), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

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

References

[1]	Nakanishi N, Nakamura K, Suzuki K, Matsuo Y, Tatara K. Associations of Body Mass Index and Percentage Body Fat by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis with Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Japanese Male Office Workers. Industrial health 2000; 38: 273-279.
[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.
[6]	Gallager D, Heymsfield SB, Heo M, Jebb SA. Health percentage body fat ranges; an approach for developing guidelines based on body mass index. Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72: 694-701.
[7]	Ocker LB. Examining the validity of body mass index cut-off score for obesity of different ethnicities. Journal of multicultural, gender and majority studies 2008; 2 (1): 1-7.
[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.
[9]	Villareal DT, Apovian CM, Kushner RF, Klein S. Obesity in the older adults: technical review and position statement of the American Society for Nutrition and NAASO, The Obesity Society. Am J Clin Nutr 2005; 82: 923-934.
[10]	Brooks Y, Black DR, Coster DC, Blue CL, Abood DA and Gretebeck RJ. Body mass index and percentage body fat as health indicators for young adults. Am J Health Behav. 2007; 31 (6): 687-700.
[11]	Glaner MF. Body mass index as indicative of body fat compared to the skinfolds.
[12]	Carrasco FN, Reyes ES, Rimler OS, Rios FC. Exactitud del índice de masa corpo- ral en la predicción de la adiposidad medida por impedanciometría bioeléctrica. Arch Lationam Nutr 2004; 54: 208-286.
[13]	Khongsdier R. BMI and morbidity in relation to body composition: a cross-sec- tional study of a rural community in North-East India. Br J Nutr 2005; 93:101-107.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

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

Copy | Download

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

Copy | Download

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

Copy | Download

@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://article.sciencepublishinggroup.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}
}

Copy | Download

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  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Helena Nti

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana
Matilda Steiner-Asiedu

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana
Alex Kojo Anderson

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

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

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

Copy | Download

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

Copy | Download

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

Copy | Download

@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://article.sciencepublishinggroup.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}
}

Copy | Download

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  -

Copy | Download