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Overweight and obesity in Asian children are increasing at an alarming rate; therefore a better understanding of the relationship between BMI and percentage body fat (%BF) in this population is important. A total of 1039 children aged 8–10 years, encompassing a wide BMI range, were recruited from China, Lebanon, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. Body composition was determined using the 2H dilution technique to quantify total body water and subsequently fat mass, fat-free mass and %BF. Ethnic differences in the BMI–%BF relationship were found; for example, %BF in Filipino boys was approximately 2 % lower than in their Thai and Malay counterparts. In contrast, Thai girls had approximately 2·0 % higher %BF values than in their Chinese, Lebanese, Filipino and Malay counterparts at a given BMI. However, the ethnic difference in the BMI–%BF relationship varied by BMI. Compared with Caucasian children of the same age, Asian children had 3–6 units lower BMI at a given %BF. Approximately one-third of the obese Asian children (%BF above 25 % for boys and above 30 % for girls) in the study were not identified using the WHO classification and more than half using the International Obesity Task Force classification. Use of the Chinese classification increased the sensitivity. Results confirmed the necessity to consider ethnic differences in body composition when developing BMI cut-points and other obesity criteria in Asian children.

The objective was to compare ethnic differences in anthropometry, including size, proportions and fat distribution, and body composition in a cohort of seventy Caucasian (forty-four boys, twenty-six girls) and seventy-four urban Indigenous (thirty-six boys, thirty-eight girls) children (aged 9–15 years). Anthropometric measures (stature, body mass, eight skinfolds, thirteen girths, six bone lengths and five bone breadths) and body composition assessment using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry were conducted. Body composition variables including total body fat percentage and percentage abdominal fat were determined and together with anthropometric indices, including BMI (kg/m2), abdominal:height ratio (AHtR) and sum of skinfolds, ethnic differences were compared for each sex. After adjustment for age, Indigenous girls showed significantly (P P 93 % of variation). Ethnicity was only important in girls where abdominal circumference and AHtR were included and Indigenous girls showed significantly (P

The objective of the present study was to determine differences in predicting total and regional adiposity using the waist:height ratio (WHtR) calculated using different ‘waist’ measurements. Body composition of ninety-five males and 121 female Australian adults (aged 20 years and above) was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The WHtR was calculated using: (1) the narrowest point between the lower costal border and the top of the iliac crest (WHtR-W), and (2) at the level of the umbilicus (WHtR-A). Relationships between calculated WHtR and measured body composition, such as percentage body fat (%BF) and percentage trunk fat (%TF) were determined. Values obtained from WHtR-A were significantly greater than WHtR-W in both groups (P 2. Sensitivity of excess %BF and %TF increased by using WHtR-A, particularly in females. In conclusion, the umbilicus measurement may be better than using the narrowest site in the WHtR calculation, particularly in females. To improve the screening ability of the WHtR and make comparisons between studies easier there may be a need to standardise the measurement location. Further studies are recommended to confirm the findings across different ethnic groups.