Body size and physique among Canadians of First Nation and European ancestry

The purpose of this study was to compare body size and physique among Canad ians of Aboriginal (First Nation [FN]) and European ancestry (EA) from the northern Ontario communities of Temagami and Bear Island. The sample consis ted of 130 FN and 494 EA participants including adults (20-75 years: 214 me n, 234 women) and youth (5-19 years: 97 boys, 79 girls). Indicators of body size and physique included stature, the sitting height-to-stature ratio (S SR), body mass, BMI, estimated upper-arm muscle area, biacromial, bicristal , biepicondylar, and bicondylar breadths, and the Heath-Carter anthropometr ic somatotype (endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy). There were few diff erences in body size between FN and EA, with the exception of adult females . Adult FN females were significantly heavier and had greater bone breadths than EA women (P < 0.001). On the other hand, somatotype differed signific antly between EA and FN by age and sex, except for 5-19-year-old females. A mong boys and men, FN had greater endomorphy (P < 0.03), whereas FN men als o had lower ectomorphy (P < 0.01). Among women, FN were significantly more endomorphic and mesomorphic and less ectomorphic (P < 0.001). Although resu lts for 5-19-year-old females were not significant, they were in the same d irection as the other groups (greater endomorphy). Forward stepwise discrim inant function analyses indicated that endomorphy was the most important di scriminator between FN and EA by age and sex. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.