title: Asian ethnicity is associated with a higher trunk/periphery fat ratio in women and adolescent girls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE: Ethnic differences in body fat mass and distribution may develop in childhood and contribute to the elevated obesity-related disease risk among Asians. We evaluated adiposity measures of adult women and their adolescent daughters of predominantly Japanese and Caucasian ethnicity using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA).  METHODS: We obtained DXA whole body scans for 101 mothers aged ≥30 years and 112 daughters aged 10-16 years who were classified as Asian, Part-Asian, Mixed-Other, and Caucasian. As a measure of central adiposity, we calculated the trunk/periphery fat ratio (TPFR). General linear models were applied to evaluate differences in adiposity measures by ethnic category.  RESULTS: In mothers, TPFR was significantly higher (p(trend)=0.01) in Asians and Part-Asians (1.38±0.42 for and 1.32±0.51) than in Mixed-Others and Caucasians (1.18±0.27 and 1.09±0.21). Daughters showed a similar trend (p(trend) =0.001) with respective values of 1.09±0.18, 0.97±0.17, 0.99±0.16, and 0.87±0.11. Among mothers, gynoid fat mass and periphery fat mass were significantly lower in Asians than Caucasians, whereas none of the regional DXA adiposity measures in girls differed by ethnicity.  CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm previous reports of greater central adiposity in women of Asian ancestry and indicate that ethnic differences in adiposity are already present in adolescence.
authors.affiliation: University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Gertraud
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maskarinec
authors.forename: Shannon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Conroy
authors.forename: Unhee
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shepherd
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Novotny