title: Association between body mass index and body fat in 9-11-year-old children from countries spanning a range of human development.
abstract: The purpose was to assess associations between body mass index (BMI) and body fat in a multinational sample of 9-11-year-old children. The sample included 7265 children from countries ranging in human development. Total body fat (TBF) and percentage body fat (PBF) were measured with a Tanita SC-240 scale and BMI z-scores (BMIz) and percentiles were computed using reference data from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. Mean PBF at BMIz values of -1, 0 and +1 were estimated using multilevel models. Correlations between BMI and TBF were >0.90 in all countries, and correlations between BMI and PBF ranged from 0.76 to 0.96. Boys from India had higher PBF than boys from several other countries at all levels of BMIz. Kenyan girls had lower levels of PBF than girls from several other countries at all levels of BMIz. Boys and girls from Colombia had higher values of PBF at BMIz=-1, whereas Colombian boys at BMIz 0 and +1 also had higher values of PBF than boys in other countries. Our results show a consistently high correlation between BMI and adiposity in children from countries representing a wide range of human development.
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Katzmarzyk
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Department of Exercise Science, University of Syracuse, Syracuse, NY, USA.
authors.forename: T V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Barreira
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Broyles
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chaput
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fogelholm
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: St Johns Research Institute , Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuriyan
authors.affiliation: St Johns Research Institute , Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurpad
authors.affiliation: Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town , Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: Alliance for Research in Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia , Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maher
authors.affiliation: CIFI2D, Faculdade de Desporto, University of Porto , Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul , Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Matsudo
authors.affiliation: Alliance for Research in Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia , Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olds
authors.affiliation: Department of Recreation Management and Exercise Science, Kenyatta University , Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Onywera
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes , Bogota, Colombia.
authors.forename: O L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Sarmiento
authors.affiliation: Department for Health, University of Bath , Bath, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Standage
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tudor-Locke
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Women's and Children's Health Center , Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center , Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Church