Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Ann Nutr Metab 2010;56:182–189 DOI: 10.1159/000276597 Regional Body Composition of Indian Women from a Low-Income Group and Its Association with Anthropometric Indices and Reproductive Events Bharati Kulkarni Veena Shatrugna Balakrishna Nagalla K. Usha Rani National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad, India cupational work was associated with higher lean mass. Con- clusion: The study women had a ‘high fat muscle poor’ phe- notype. The association of regional body composition with anthropometric indices and reproductive events provided important insights. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Commonly used indices of obesity such as body mass index (BMI) and waist/hip ratio may not be appropriate as the BMI cannot differentiate between fat and fat-free mass. Asians including Indians are known to have a high- er percentage of body fat and lower muscle mass for a given BMI when compared with Caucasians and African- Americans [1, 2]. This peculiar body composition may be partly responsible for the high risk of co-morbidities such as diabetes, dyslipidemia and hypertension observed at a lower BMI in these populations [3, 4]. Though a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome is commonly observed in men, recent studies in urban adults from India have indicated that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is increasing at a steeper rate in women [5, 6]. Women typically have more fat and less lean tissue than men and this may contribute to the in- Key Words Indian women  Body composition  Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry  Fat mass  Lean body mass  Obesity Abstract Background and Aims: The study examined the body com- position of women from an urban slum who have a low prev- alence of obesity. Since the quantification of regional fat distribution is important for evaluating health risks, the re- gional body composition was assessed in relation to anthro- pometric indices and reproductive events. Methods: The body composition of 278 women was assessed using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results: Their mean age, height, body mass index, percentage of whole body fat and trunk fat mass to leg fat mass ratio (an indicator of android obesity) were 40.8 years, 149 cm, 22, 33 and 1.22, respective- ly. Receiver-operating characteristic analyses indicated that a body mass index of 20 and 22 corresponded to a percent- age of whole body fat of 30 and 35, respectively. Higher weight was associated with increased android fat distribu- tion and taller height was associated with higher lean body mass and gynoid fat distribution. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that menopausal status was associated with lower lean mass and higher android obesity whereas breast-feeding was related to lower leg fat mass. Heavy oc- Received: May 25, 2009 Accepted after revision: January 11, 2010 Published online: February 25, 2010 Dr. Bharati Kulkarni National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research Jamai Osmania PO Hyderabad 500 007 (India) Tel. +91 40 2719 7256, Fax +91 40 2701 9074, E-Mail bharati70  @  yahoo.com © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel 0250–6807/10/0563–0182$26.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/anm