BODY-FAT DISTRIBUTION IN SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN

OBJECTIVE: To compare revels of abdominal fatness in South Asian and E uropean mothers and children. SUBJECTS: 49 mothers and children from S outh Asian backgrounds and 63 mothers and children from European backg rounds who took part in a study on family health behaviours. MEASUREME NTS : Anthropometric measures and abdominal fatness indices, including WHR and conicity. RESULTS: Asian mothers were shorter, and lighter th an European mothers, but had a higher WHR and a higher conicity. Among children, boys had a higher WHR and conicity than girls but there wer e no ethnic differences in fat distribution. CONCLUSION: Different pat terns of fat distribution were observed in South Asian and European wo men, with South Asian women having a relatively large waist circumfere nce, relative either to hip circumference (WHR) or to overall site (co nicity). Sex differences in fat distribution, but not ethnic differenc es, were observed in the children. This suggests that the adult patter ns of fat distribution may not be established at this stage.