The World Health Organization defines obesity as an excess of body fat that negatively affects health. A common method to determine body fat percentage in children and adolescents is the use of prediction equations based on the measurement of subcutaneous adipose skinfolds. While these measures require training anthropometrists and using quality adipometers, other dimensions such as height and waist circumference at umbilical level are easy to take and do not require expensive equipment.

The waist circumference correlates well with abdominal fat, is a parameter that assesses cardiovascular risk in adults, and has been associated with components of metabolic syndrome in childhood and adolescence. Although published standards exist for some human groups, in schoolchildren waist circumference is a less studied variable. During childhood growth, although waist circumference increases, waist/height ratio remains stable and correlates positively with the level of adiposity estimated from subcutaneous adipose skinfolds.

Between 2007 and 2008, EPINUT Research Group from Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) conducted a study of 2319 Spanish schoolchildren between 6 and 14 years. The results, published in Public Health Nutrition, showed significant differences in the waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) among children classified as undernourished, normally nourished, overweight and obese. Based on these results, researchers developed equations to estimate body fat percentage in both sexes from WtHR.

The study was financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Government of Spain

About the research group

EPINUT was officially established in 2005, under the leadership of professors M. Dolores Cabañas and M. Dolores Marrodán who, from the Medicine and Biology Schools respectively, had been developing complementary research lines. Among the group members there are specialists in Physical Anthropology, Pediatrics, Sport Medicine or Human Nutrition and Dietetics, who carry their professional activities both in the university, in clinical practice and in other institutions dependent on the health and education offices of the regional government. EPINUT also count on both Spanish and international collaborators who participate in specific projects and activities led by the group.

More information: www.ucm. es/info/epinut

This paper is freely available via the following link for 2 weeks
‘Predicting percent body fat through Waist-to-Height Ratio (WtHR) in Spanish Schoolchildren’
Marrodán et al.

http://journals.cambridge.org/phn/marrodan