Original Research Article Cultural Consonance and Adult Body Composition in Urban Brazil WILLIAM W. DRESSLER, 1 * KATHRYN S. OTHS, 1 ROSANE P. RIBEIRO, 2 MAURO C. BALIEIRO, 3 AND JOSE ´ ERNESTO DOS SANTOS 4 1 Department of Anthropology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2 Department of Maternal, Child, and Public Health, Faculty of Nursing, University of S~ ao Paulo, Ribeir~ ao Preto, Brazil 3 Department of Psychology, Paulista University, Ribeir~ ao Preto, Brazil 4 Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of S~ ao Paulo, Ribeir~ ao Preto, Brazil ABSTRACT In previous research in Brazil, we found socioeconomic and gender differences in body mass and per- cent body fat, consistent with a model in which individuals in higher socioeconomic strata, especially women, could achieve a cultural ideal of body size and shape. In this article, using new data, we examine these processes more pre- cisely using measures of cultural consonance. Cultural consonance refers to the degree to which individuals approxi- mate, in their own beliefs and behaviors, the shared prototypes for belief and behavior encoded in cultural models. We have found higher cultural consonance in several domains to be associated with health outcomes. Furthermore, there tends to be a general consistency in cultural consonance across domains. Here we suggest that measures of body compo- sition can be considered indicators of individuals’ success in achieving cultural ideals of the body, and that cultural consonance in several domains will be associated with body composition. Using waist circumference as an outcome, smaller waist size was associated with higher cultural consonance in lifestyle (b ¼0.311, P < 0.01) and higher cultural consonance in the consumption of high prestige foods (b ¼0.260, P < 0.01) for women (n ¼ 161), but not for men (n ¼ 106), controlling for age, family income, tobacco use, and dietary intake of protein and carbohydrates. Similar results were obtained using the body mass index and weight as outcomes, while there were no associations with height. These results help to illuminate the cultural mediation of body composition. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 20:15–22, 2008. ' 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. The study of social and cultural variability in adult body composition has long been a topic of interest in human biology (Bindon, 1995; Katzmarzyk et al., 2000; Lipowicz et al., 2002; Wang et al., 1999). The aim of this article is to focus on cultural processes that may influence body composition, and especially waist circumference. Specifically, we hypothesize that individuals’ efforts to ap- proximate in their own beliefs and behaviors the shared prototypes for belief and behavior encoded in cultural models—what we refer to as ‘‘cultural consonance’’—are associated with body composition. We test this hypothesis with data collected in urban Brazil. With respect to trends in the cross-cultural and social distribution of adult body composition, there is a tendency toward larger body size and obesity as societies become more complex, sedentary, and stratified (Brown and Kon- ner, 1987; Gremillion, 2005; Lev-Ran, 2001). This likely results from an interaction between a species-wide meta- bolic adaptation to conserve energy resources during times of food scarcity and cultural adaptations that have led to greater food security in complex societies. Further- more, the social distribution of body composition changes as indices of socioeconomic development change. In earlier stages of industrialization and incorporation into world market systems, there is a direct relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and body size; as SES increases, mean body mass and the rate of obesity increase. As industrialization and market incorporation progress, this association changes. In societies more fully integrated into the world market system, there is an inverse association between SES and adult body composi- tion. Furthermore, there tends to be a gender difference in the SES distribution of body size in more developed soci- eties, with the decline in the body mass index (BMI) with SES being greater for women than for men (Monteiro et al., 2004). In addition to changing patterns of caloric intake and energy expenditure, cultural expectations are fundamen- tal in the changing social distribution of body composition. In earlier stages of economic development, a tendency to- ward greater BMI, if not outright obesity, signals the wealth of the upper classes in a very concrete way, because a higher BMI would not be attained if members of the upper classes did not have the combination of access to ample food resources without the associated energy ex- penditure of heavy physical labor. As development has proceeded, at least in European and North American soci- eties, a different sensibility has emerged, one that places an emphasis on thinness, primarily for women. In these societies, thinness has become eroticized and sexualized, and the development and maintenance of this ideal body type requires the access to a different cuisine, as well as the opportunity to sculpt the body to fit the ideal offered by the combination of leisure time and financial resources (Brown and Konner, 1987; Gremillion, 2005). The dichotomy between more- and less-well developed societies, while of obvious heuristic value, breaks down in specific situations (Monteiro et al., 2004). In previous Contract grant sponsor: National Science Foundation; Contract grant number: BCS-0090193. *Correspondence to: William W. Dressler, Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, PO Box 870210, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405-0210. E-mail: wdressle@as.ua.edu Received 15 September 2006; Revision received 16 January 2007; Accepted 1 March 2007 DOI 10.1002/ajhb.20674 Published online 16 October 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience. wiley.com). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY 20:15–22 (2008) V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.