For example, some studies suggest that type 2 diabetes and hypertension occur at a lower BMI and younger age for Asians than for Europeans [4][6].
In addition, this system has been applied in a previous multi-ethnic study of body composition [28]. A two-tailed T-test shows that these differences between different ethnic groups are all significant except for PBF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No, PLOS is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, #C2354500, based in San Francisco, California, US, Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019835, www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/index.html, http://www.caac.gov.cn/b1/b6/200612/t20061220_910.html. We informed and explained our study methods, benefits and adverse reactions, objectives of this study, and definition of ethnicity to all subjects. PLoS ONE 6(5): We thank all the pilots for their participation. Furthermore, the findings in this study may not necessarily be generalizable to the population as a whole. This cross-sectional observational study provides a comparative analysis between Chinese and white male pilots focusing principally on body composition and obesity-related risk factors. Little is known about the apparent greater susceptibility of Asians to type 2 diabetes and CVD. Fasting body weight, height and blood pressure were measured following standard procedures. The inclusion criterion of these Caucasian subjects was that at least 3 of their 4 grandparents should be Caucasian. Comparative data on Chinese and Western populations are also limited and often lead to conflicting conclusions. Yes Civil Aviation Medicine Centre, Civil Aviation Administration of China, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China, Fasting serum glucose, fasting plasma total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides (TG) were assessed using automatic biochemistry analyzer. The relative difference of PBF between American and Chinese males is much less than the difference of BMI, implying that the PBF among American men should be lower than that of Chinese men with the same BMI level. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019835.t002. 7 log, Comparison of European BMI and the corresponding percentage of body fat (BF) with estimated BMI equivalents for Maori, Pacific and Asian Indians derived from the equations relating BMI to the percentage of BF and age. Written consent was obtained from every subject before body composition measurement, physical examination, and blood sample collection. These results provide supporting evidence for the hypothesis that obesity-related risk factors may occur at a lower BMI for Asians than Europeans [3], [6], [31], [43], suggesting that Chinese populations may be at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and CVD. Whole-body and segmental body composition was estimated using equations provided by the BIA manufacturer for all participants. Subjects were instructed to fast and abstain from vigorous exercise for 12 hrs prior to physical examination. Some evidence suggests exposure to under-nutrition in pregnancy followed by relative postnatal over-nutrition may also be a factor [45]. In contrast, the prevalence of overweight among U.S. adults is approximately 65% according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III) [11]. Yes Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DW LW JF GZ YJ SL. On the other hand, the associations that we studied (BMI-body composition, BMI-obesity-related risk factors) between different ethnic groups are all consistent with the findings of other studies, including those with more representative samples. Finally, integrated strategy combining population-level preventive policies, early detection, and multidisciplinary care programs are needed to reduce the risk and associated complications in the general population and in high-risk individuals. Some obesity comorbidities are similar or more prevalent in Asian countries than in Western countries, though Asians have lower rates of overweight and obesity than their Western counterparts [3][9]. Yes The number of subjects in each group is reported in Table 1. http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/117-1207/1203/. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean. Whole-body composition has been compared between Chinese and Caucasian populations in a limited number of previous studies [16], [19][25], [30], [31]. In another study, no difference in body fat was observed between a Dutch sample and Beijing Chinese sample [25]. For a given BMI, Chinese men had significantly higher PBF and more central fat deposition than their Caucasian counterparts. [7] directly compared obesity-related risk factors in Taiwan Chinese and U.S. Caucasians. While comparison results from two large-scale epidemiological studies, the Shanghai Diabetes Studies (SHDS) [34] and the NHANES III [35], show that the mean value of PBF for American men is relatively 7.4% higher than that for Chinese men.
No, Is the Subject Area "Body mass index" applicable to this article? After adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI), Chinese males had significantly higher percentage of body fat (PBF) both with respect to whole body (Chinese: 23.7%0.2% vs. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg) divided by height (m) squared (kg/m2). Performed the experiments: DW LW JF GZ JW. The subject's body weight was measured to the nearest of 0.1 kg by a WeightTronix electronic scale (Scale Electronics Development, New York, USA). Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. Answering fundamental questions about obesity and its complications therefore requires ethnically comparative data. Whole-body and segmental body composition were measured using an 8-contact electrode bioimpedance analysis (BIA) system. e19835. Thus, more research is required to create ethnic-specific BMI cut-off points that are predictive of obesity-related risk factors. This trend suggests that the use of World Health Organization (WHO) cut-points may substantially underestimate the real burden of disease related to excess weight in non-Caucasians populations, especially in Asia [15]. Gathering such comparative data, though, is challenging in Asian countries, especially in China, where such data are rare and conclusions are often derived from Asian immigrants living in Western countries [16][18]. When percentage of body fat (PBF) of Chinese is corrected by BMI, taking age and gender into account, some researchers found Chinese had a higher PBF for a given BMI level [16], [20][22], while other researchers had the opposite finding among Beijing Chinese [23], [24]. Obesity is one of the greatest challenges facing global health experts today. Furthermore, among the multi-ethnic American adults from the NHANES III [36], PBF is generally lower for non-Hispanic whites than non-Hispanic blacks and then Mexican-Americans. Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping District, Beijing, China, Affiliation In addition, comparing the two nationally representative studies, NHANES III [32] and China National Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 (CNNHS 2002) [33], Chinese men held a relatively 15.0% lower mean value of BMI than that for American white men. No, Is the Subject Area "Ethnic epidemiology" applicable to this article? An 8-contact electrode bioimpedance analysis (BIA) system (BC-418, Tanita Corp, Tokyo, Japan) was employed to measure body composition. Conceived and designed the experiments: DW YL LW SL. Despite the difference in prevalence of obesity in China and the United States, the prevalence of obesity comorbidities in Chinese population is similar to those seen in the U.S. [12][14]. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click * E-mail: lsonglin@yahoo.com (SL); wangdong621@live.cn (DW), Affiliations Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. Consequently, the WHO classification of overweight (BMI25 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI30 kg/m2) [1] may underestimate the proportion of the Chinese males who are obese and the burden of obesity-related chronic diseases. The 114 Caucasian participants were from 15 European countries, 2 North American countries, 6 South American countries, Australia and South Africa. Yes Copyright 2022 Elsevier B.V. or its licensors or contributors. We appreciate the cooperation of the Shenzhen Airlines Co. in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
The number of subjects in each group is reported in Table 1. Discover a faster, simpler path to publishing in a high-quality journal. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean. First, although we recognized that the ethnic groupings we used in the current study did not take into account the potentially significant variation in genetic differences among Caucasian participants, we did not have sufficient data to produce reliable country-specific estimates among these populations. Whites: 22.4%0.2%) and the trunk area (Chinese: 25.0%0.3% vs. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Yes Copyright: 2011 Wang et al. here. A venous blood sample (10 ml) was taken after a 12-hr fast before BIA measurement. Yes In Asia, the world's most populous region, the epidemic pattern of obesity and its complications differs from that of the West, due to the considerable genetic and environmental heterogeneity in Asia. The results are expressed as means and standard deviations. Yes This study is the first directly comparative study of body composition and obesity-related risk factors between Chinese and Caucasian male adults. By continuing you agree to the use of cookies. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019835, Editor: Murielle Bochud, University Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Switzerland, Received: December 24, 2010; Accepted: April 18, 2011; Published: May 19, 2011. With respect to obesity-related risk factors, after adjusting for age and BMI, ANCOVA demonstrates that although Chinese men had higher DBP, FG, and TG, while Caucasian men had higher TC and HDL, only FG (P<0.01) and HDL (P<0.01) were statistically different between the groups. In 2002, the Working Group on Obesity in China (WGOC) recommended BMI24 kg/m2 and BMI28 kg/m2 as the cut-off points for overweight and obesity respectively [37]. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.afnr.2015.07.001. No, Is the Subject Area "Obesity" applicable to this article? The evidence is consistent that the content and distribution of body fat are markedly different between the various ethnic groups. Whites: 5.21.0 mmol/L) but lower high-density lipoprotein levels (Chinese: 0.81.0 mmol/L vs. BIA measurements were carried out at 50 kHz with a 0.8 mA sine wave constant current. In addition, a marginally significantly higher diastolic blood pressure was found among Chinese men than that among white men (Chinese: 801.0 mmHg vs. Mean percentage of body fat and appendicular skeletal muscle mass (adjusted for weight and height within each ethnic group) by decade of age for European (), Maori (), Pacific () and Asian Indian () (a) men and (b) women. Funding: This work was funded by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, grant number 200 000 RMB; (http://www.caac.gov.cn/). Height was measured without shoes to the nearest of 0.5 cm using a stadiometer (Holtain, Crosswell, Wales, UK). There is also a clearly established stronger association between central obesity and risk for CVD and type 2 diabetes in Chinese populations [19], [28], [39][42]. Yes Given that the majority of the evidence, to date, investigating the associations between adiposity and cardiometabolic disorder risk have been obtained from studies undertaken either in European or in North American Caucasians, in this chapter, we have reviewed differences in body fat content and distribution between East Asians, South Asians, and Caucasians. Two consecutive readings of blood pressure were taken in the right arm according to 1999 WHO/International Society of Hypertension guidelines on hypertension [29] with the participant in a seated position after 5 minutes of rest. The results of the present study add further support to changing the BMI thresholds for overweight and obesity for Chinese males. Therefore, the difference for the mean value of PBF between American white men and Chinese men must be even lower. here. No, Is the Subject Area "Adipose tissue" applicable to this article? In this study, for a given BMI, Chinese subjects showed significantly higher fasting glucose level but significantly lower HDL level than their Caucasian counterparts. Subjects with a history of cardiovascular, pulmonary, kidney, or malignant disease as well as those currently taking medications were excluded from the study. Copyright 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.