title: The relevance of the side-view in body image scales for public health: an example from two African populations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Body size scales are a common method for diagnosing body image disturbances and assessing the cultural valorisation of stoutness, a phenomenon that plays a role in the development of overweight, especially among African populations. Traditionally, body size scales present a front view. In this study, we evaluated a complementary model of representing body shape: the side view of body outlines. In particular, we examined the association between the side-view and a set of bio-anthropometric indices in men and women.
  
  
  METHODS
  To cover the inter-ethnic variability in the Niger-Congo area, we selected a balanced sex-ratio sample of 80 Cameroonians and 81 Senegalese. Individuals wearing close-fitting clothes were photographed from the front-and side-view, and measured following a bio-anthropometric protocol synthesizing body shape variation: Body Mass Index, percentage body fat, somatotype profile, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, mean blood pressure and glycaemia. The shape of each front and side body outline was extracted and characterised by Normalized Elliptic Fourier Descriptors (NEFD). Finally, we assessed associations between NEFD and bio-anthropometric indices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Variation in the shape of both front and side body outlines was associated with all bio-anthropometrics for at least one sex-population combination. Overall, the side view best captured body shape variation related to changes in almost all bio-anthropometrics in both sexes and populations, with the exceptions of female mesomorphy, male blood pressure and glycaemia (in both sexes). We found that the details of the relationship between bio-anthropometrics and body shape differed between the two male populations, a finding that was reflected in side-views for all criteria, but not front-views.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Variation in body shape assessed by several bio-anthropometrics related to health and nutritional status was larger for side than front body outlines. Integrating side views in body size scales would improve the accuracy of body size assessment and thus, the assessment of behaviours leading to overweight, as well as symptoms of body image disturbances, in Africa and potentially in other populations.
authors.affiliation: UMI 3189 "Environnement, Santé, Sociétés", Faculty of Medicine-UCAD, BP 5005, Dakar-Fann, Sénégal, >Africa. ecohen@mnhn.fr.|UMR 7206 "Ecoanthropologie et Ethnobiologie", MNHN-CNRS, Musée de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France. ecohen@mnhn.fr.|UMR 7206:"Ecoanthropologie et Ethnobiologie", National Museum of Natural History, 61 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France. ecohen@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: UMR 7206 "Ecoanthropologie et Ethnobiologie", MNHN-CNRS, Musée de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France. amndao@hotmail.fr.
authors.forename: Amadou
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ndao
authors.affiliation: UMI 3189 "Environnement, Santé, Sociétés", Faculty of Medicine-UCAD, BP 5005, Dakar-Fann, Sénégal, >Africa. gilles.boetsch@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boëtsch
authors.affiliation: UMI 3189 "Environnement, Santé, Sociétés", Faculty of Medicine-UCAD, BP 5005, Dakar-Fann, Sénégal, >Africa. lamine.gueye@uadb.edu.sn.
authors.forename: Lamine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gueye
authors.affiliation: UMR 7206 "Ecoanthropologie et Ethnobiologie", MNHN-CNRS, Musée de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France. ppasquet@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasquet
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Related Research, Public Health section, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield, S1 4DA, UK. michelle.holdsworth@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holdsworth
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse. 17, D-10315, Berlin, Germany. alexandre.courtiol@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Courtiol
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D002163:Cameroon; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity; D010781:Photography; D011634:Public Health; D012675:Senegal; D012737:Sex Factors; D013008:Somatotypes; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose