Similarity in Percent Body Fat between White and Vietnamese Women: Implication for a Universal Definition of Obesity

Ho-Pham, LT; Lai, TQ; Nguyen, ND; Barrett-Connor, E; Nguyen, TV

Similarity in Percent Body Fat between White and Vietnamese Women: Implication for a Universal Definition of Obesity

Ho-Pham, LT Lai, TQ Nguyen, ND Barrett-Connor, E Nguyen, TV

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Obesity, 2010, 18 (6), pp. 1242 - 1246
Issue Date:: 2010-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Ho-Pham, LT	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lai, TQ	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Nguyen, ND	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Barrett-Connor, E	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Nguyen, TV https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3246-6281	en_US
dc.date.issued	2010-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Obesity, 2010, 18 (6), pp. 1242 - 1246	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1930-7381	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/28787
dc.description.abstract	© 2010 North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO). It has been widely assumed that for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than whites, and that the BMI threshold for defining obesity in Asians should be lower than the threshold for whites. This study sought to test this assumption by comparing the PBF between US white and Vietnamese women. The study was designed as a comparative cross-sectional investigation. In the first study, 210 Vietnamese women ages between 50 and 85 were randomly selected from various districts in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). In the second study, 419 women of the same age range were randomly selected from the Rancho Bernardo Study (San Diego, CA). In both studies, lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (QDR 4500; Hologic). PBF was derived as FM over body weight. Compared with Vietnamese women, white women had much more FM (24.8 ± 8.1 kg vs. 18.8 ± 4.9 kg; P < 0.0001) and greater PBF (36.4 ± 6.5% vs. 35.0 ± 6.2%; P = 0.012). However, there was no significant difference in PBF between the two groups after matching for BMI (35.1 ± 6.2% vs. 35.0 ± 5.7%; P = 0.87) or for age and BMI (35.6 ± 5.1% vs. 35.8 ± 5.9%; P = 0.79). Using the criteria of BMI ≥30, 19% of US white women and 5% of Vietnamese women were classified as obese. Approximately 54% of US white women and 53% of Vietnamese women had their PBF >35% (P = 0.80). Although white women had greater BMI, body weight, and FM than Vietnamese women, their PBF was virtually identical. Further research is required to derive a more appropriate BMI threshold for defining obesity for Asian women.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Obesity	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1038/oby.2010.19	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Endocrinology & Metabolism	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Humans	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Obesity	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Body Mass Index	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Matched-Pair Analysis	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Cross-Sectional Studies	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Reference Values	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Aged	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Aged, 80 and over	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Middle Aged	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Asian Continental Ancestry Group	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	European Continental Ancestry Group	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	California	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Vietnam	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Female	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Adiposity	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Body Fat Distribution	en_US
dc.title	Similarity in Percent Body Fat between White and Vietnamese Women: Implication for a Universal Definition of Obesity	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	6	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	18	en_US
utslib.for	110306 Endocrinology	en_US
utslib.for	1111 Nutrition and Dietetics	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Biomedical Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CHT - Health Technologies
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	6	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	18	en_US

Abstract:

© 2010 North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO). It has been widely assumed that for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than whites, and that the BMI threshold for defining obesity in Asians should be lower than the threshold for whites. This study sought to test this assumption by comparing the PBF between US white and Vietnamese women. The study was designed as a comparative cross-sectional investigation. In the first study, 210 Vietnamese women ages between 50 and 85 were randomly selected from various districts in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). In the second study, 419 women of the same age range were randomly selected from the Rancho Bernardo Study (San Diego, CA). In both studies, lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (QDR 4500; Hologic). PBF was derived as FM over body weight. Compared with Vietnamese women, white women had much more FM (24.8 ± 8.1 kg vs. 18.8 ± 4.9 kg; P < 0.0001) and greater PBF (36.4 ± 6.5% vs. 35.0 ± 6.2%; P = 0.012). However, there was no significant difference in PBF between the two groups after matching for BMI (35.1 ± 6.2% vs. 35.0 ± 5.7%; P = 0.87) or for age and BMI (35.6 ± 5.1% vs. 35.8 ± 5.9%; P = 0.79). Using the criteria of BMI ≥30, 19% of US white women and 5% of Vietnamese women were classified as obese. Approximately 54% of US white women and 53% of Vietnamese women had their PBF >35% (P = 0.80). Although white women had greater BMI, body weight, and FM than Vietnamese women, their PBF was virtually identical. Further research is required to derive a more appropriate BMI threshold for defining obesity for Asian women.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/28787