title: Sizing the association between lifestyle behaviours and fatness in a large, heterogeneous sample of youth of multiple ethnicities from 4 countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The magnitude of the relationship between lifestyle risk factors for obesity and adiposity is not clear. The aim of this study was to clarify this in order to determine the level of importance of lifestyle factors in obesity aetiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional analysis was carried out on data on youth who were not trying to change weight (n = 5714), aged 12 to 22 years and from 8 ethnic groups living in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Tonga. Demographic and lifestyle data were measured by questionnaires. Fatness was measured by body mass index (BMI), BMI z-score and bioimpedance analysis, which was used to estimate percent body fat and total fat mass (TFM). Associations between lifestyle and body composition variables were examined using linear regression and forest plots.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TV watching was positively related to fatness in a dose-dependent manner. Strong, dose-dependent associations were observed between fatness and soft drink consumption (positive relationship), breakfast consumption (inverse relationship) and after-school physical activity (inverse relationship). Breakfast consumption-fatness associations varied in size across ethnic groups. Lifestyle risk factors for obesity were associated with percentage differences in body composition variables that were greatest for TFM and smallest for BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lifestyle factors were most strongly related to TFM, which suggests that studies that use BMI alone to quantify fatness underestimate the full effect of lifestyle on adiposity. This study clarifies the size of lifestyle-fatness relationships observed in previous studies.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. r.scragg@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sluyter
authors.forename: Robert K R
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Scragg
authors.forename: Lindsay D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Plank
authors.forename: Gade D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Waqa
authors.forename: Kalesita F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Fotu
authors.forename: Boyd A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Swinburn
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D062408:Breakfast; D002253:Carbonated Beverages; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005006:Ethnicity; D005367:Fiji / Q000453:epidemiology; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016014:Linear Models; D009043:Motor Activity; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television; D014058:Tonga / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult