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The purpose of this paper is to assess eight weeks individualized balanced low-calorie diet on anthropometric measurements and body composition in apparently healthy obese women.

Forty apparently healthy obese women (body mass index: 27.5-40 kg/m² and age: 18-40 years) were recruited from the nutrition clinic in the north-west of Iran, Ardabil city. Anthropometric measurements and body composition analysis were done at baseline and after the intervention.

During eight weeks, individualized balanced low-calorie diet resulted in a significant decrease in body weight (−4.0 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.001), body mass index (−1.6 ± 0.1 kg/m², p < 0.001), waist circumference (−2.9 ± 0.3 cm, p < 0.001), waist-to-hip ratio (−0.01 ± 0.004, p = 0.001), waist-to-height ratio (−0.02 ± 0.002, p < 0.001), per cent body fat (−1.1 ± 0.2 per cent, p < 0.001), fat mass (−2.5 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.001), visceral fat level (−0.8 ± 0.1, p < 0.001), visceral fat area (−11.3 ± 2.3 cm², p < 0.001), trunk mass fat (−1.2 ± 0.1 kg, p < 0.001), left arm mass fat (−0.2 ± 0.03 kg, p < 0.001), right arm mass fat (−0.2 ± 0.03 kg, p < 0.001), left leg mass fat (−0.4 ± 0.1 kg, p < 0.001), right leg mass fat (−0.4 ± 0.05 kg, p < 0.001), abdominal volume index (−1.1 ± 0.1 m², p < 0.001), conicity index (−0.007 ± 0.002 m^2/3/kg^1/2, p = 0.001) and body adiposity index (1.0 ± 0.1 per cent, p < 0.001).

The limitation concerns the generalizability to the general population of obese women. Future studies should take sex differences into consideration. These studies may focus on the long-term benefits.

Balanced low-calorie diet-induced moderate weight loss alone may represent an effective strategy for reducing metabolic risk factors among obese women.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is on the increase in developing countries. Therefore, a cheap, accessible and simple screening tool such as the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is required for the prompt assessment. The purpose of this paper is to determine the usefulness of MUAC in assessing overnutrition in comparison with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).

Participants included 1,067 children aged 6–18 years recruited from private and public schools in Egor Local Government Area in Benin City, Nigeria. Body fat was estimated by BIA using a Tanita scale, whereas the MUAC was measured with a non-elastic tape. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to test the ability of MUAC to determine children and adolescents identified as overweight and obese by BIA.

The prevalence of overnutrition by MUAC (12.4 percent – overweight 6.0 percent and obesity 6.4 percent) was comparable to that by BIA (12.3 percent – overweight 5.4 percent, obesity 6.9 percent). There was a significant correlation between MUAC and body fat percentage, fat mass, fat mass index and fat-free mass index in both males and females (p=0.000).

This study, in contrast to most other studies on the use of MUAC in the assessment of overnutrition, has the advantage of using BIA cut-offs values against body mass index which does not assess body fat composition. BIA is, however, not the gold standard in the measurement of body fat composition. The optimal MUAC cut-off values of this study may not be representative of the entire country because of its restriction to Benin. Similar studies from different parts of Nigeria will be required to validate this smoothed MUAC percentiles for use in the screening of children and adolescents for overnutrition.

MUAC compares well with BIA in this study and can be a useful, alternative and practical screening tool for assessing obesity in the resource-poor setting.

In Ghana, the body mass index (BMI) is widely used in clinical practice in assessing weight status, but it is limited as a measure of adiposity. The purpose of this study was to compare bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and body mass index (BMI) methods in determining obesity among some Ghanaians.

This was a cross-sectional survey involving 134 participants whose BMI were determined. Percentage body fat mass (%BF) and percentage visceral fat (%VF) were obtained by BIA using a hand-to-hand Omron body composition monitor with a weighing scale.

Based on the WHO BMI criteria, 6.0 per cent of the participants were obese. However, according to BIA 18.7 and 20.9 per cent of the participants were obese according to % BF and %VF, respectively. The BMI and %BF showed higher prevalence of obesity among female participants (8.2 and 34.4 per cent, respectively) than male participants (4.1 and 5.5 per cent, respectively), whereas for %VF, obesity was higher among male participants than female participants (26.0 per cent, 14.8 per cent). There was significant positive correlation between BMI and % BF (r = 0.604, p = 0.001); and between BMI and %VF (r = 0.555, p = 0.001).

There are discrepancies in the prevalence of obesity in the study population as measured by BMI and BIA methods. This suggests that the BMI and BIA may not be reliable tools for assessing obesity in this population. Further studies are needed to determine the cut-offs for BMI and BIA that are associated with metabolic risk in the population. The small sample size limits the generalizability of findings of this study.

Body composition tends to vary by ethnicity and race; hence, it is essential to determine the appropriate tool for assessing adiposity in African populations for prompt and targeted interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate anthropometric data, body composition and food intake of teenagers.

This paper involves a cross-sectional study with 132 teenagers aged 15 to 19 years old from a public school of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Anthropometric measurements, body composition, food intake and sport practice were obtained. The authors performed Student’s t-test, X2 or Fisher’s exact tests and Pearson’s correlation to evaluate anthropometric variables, nutritional status and sport practice.

Regarding the nutritional status, 81.8 per cent of the teenagers were of normal weight, 10.6 per cent were overweight and 7.6 per cent were obese. Female teenagers had higher values of body fat analyzed by skinfold thickness, fat mass, fat mass index and body fat percentage, while male had higher lean mass evaluated by fat-free mass and fat-free mass index. For both genders, it was observed that there was low intake of fruits and vegetables and daily intake of sweets, soda, salt snacks and fast food like sandwiches and pizza. Only 54.5 per cent of teenagers reported performing physical exercise and there was association between sedentary lifestyle with higher intake of sweets and soft drink.

This paper summarized several methods to assess nutritional status and body composition of teenagers.

Studies investigating the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and body mass index (BMI) have led to inconsistent findings. Therefore, to decisively conclude, this paper aims to clarify the relationship between DII and obesity by performing meta-analysis.

PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar were searched up to July 2017 using key words selected from Medical Subject Headings and other related keywords to identify all relevant articles. In total, 22 articles were entered into the meta-analysis; 22 studies compared the mean of BMI among subjects with highest versus the lowest DII and 4 studies had data on the hazard risk (HR) or odds ratio (OR) for obesity.

A meta-analysis on included studies indicated a significant association on either mean differences (MD) in BMI (MD = 0.811; 95 per cent CI: 0.365-1.256; p: 0.0001) or obesity OR (OR: 1.310; 95 per cent CI: 1.144-1.500; p = 0.000) by comparing the highest and lowest DII categories. Between-study heterogeneity was high (Cochrane Q test, p < 0.001, I² = 98.1 per cent, df = 21, τ² = 0.9273), and only dietary assessment methods could explain the source of heterogeneity in which 24-h dietary recalls were homogeny (I² = 8.4 per cent, df = 2, p = 0.335).

The results of the present meta-analysis suggest that adherence to high DII score increased BMI and obesity. More prospective studies in different populations are needed to better clarify this relation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of methyl donor supplementation on anthropometric indices, body composition, glycemic control, lipid profile, homocysteine and appetite regulatory hormones in overweight and obese subjects.

This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial was conducted on overweight and obese subjects in Shiraz, Iran, in 2018. The 25 participants in each intervention and control group were required to take methyl donor supplement and placebo, respectively, for eight weeks. A variety of measurements was collected at baseline and the end of the study. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software.

The results indicated a significant reduction in weight, body mass index, body fat and waist and hip circumference (p < 0.001 for all parameters) within both groups and a significant improvement in skeletal muscle (p = 0.005), fat-free mass (p = 0.006), visceral fat area (p < 0.001) and body cell mass (p = 0.004) in the intervention group. Also, the results showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding serum homocysteine concentration at the end of the intervention (p < 0.001).

The results demonstrated that methyl donor supplementation might have effects on the improvement of anthropometric indices, body composition, glycemic and lipid profile status and appetite regulatory hormones among obese and overweight individuals. These effects might be attributed to their roles in energy metabolism, protein synthesis and epigenetics regulation.

Garlic supplementation may be inversely contributed to body weight and composition; however, previous results have been inconsistent. This study aims to evaluate the effect of garlic supplementation on body weight and composition using a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Online databases of PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar were searched up to January 2020. The random-effects model was used to calculate the effect sizes of the included studies. The risk of bias of included studies was assessed using the Cochrane collaboration’s tool. Besides, the NutriGrade scoring system was applied to judge the credibility of the evidence.

In total, 18 studies (with 1,250 participants) were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled analysis revealed that garlic supplementation has a significant increase in body weight [weighted mean difference (WMD) = 0.31 Kg, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.53 Kg, P = 0.005, n = 12 effect sizes]. Waist circumference (WC) does remarkably reduce [WMD = −1.28 cm, 95% CI: −2.08, −0.47 cm, P = 0.002, n = 4 effect size]. However, body mass index, body fat percent and fat-free mass do not dramatically change (P > 0.05). Notably, the pooled analyses on body weight and WC were sensitive to two included studies. NutriGrade’s score was rated low for this meta-analysis.

Although garlic supplementation could slightly increase weight and simultaneously might decrease WC, these associations were not strong enough to corroborate the findings. Also, other anthropometric indices do not significantly change. Further well-designed randomized clinical trial studies are needed to confirm the results.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of obesity/overweight using higher body mass index (BMI), assess racial/ethnic variance in overweight/obese prevalence, and to determine whether or not insurance status explains the variance.

A cross-sectional design was used to assess medical records of children in Nemours Healthcare System during 2011. The authors reviewed the records and extracted information on normal BMI, BMI percent, higher BMI, prevalence of overweight/obese and other variables as well as race and ethnicity. χ2 statistic, Fischer's exact and logistic regression model were used to examine the data.

Overall, the prevalence of higher BMI as overweight/obese was comparable to that of the US pediatric population, 33.4 percent. Compared to Caucasian/white, Asians were less likely to have higher BMI, prevalence odd ratio (POR)=0.79, 95 percent CI=0.70-0.90, but Blacks/African Americans (POR=1.22, 95 percent CI=1.18-1.27) and Some other Race were more likely to have higher BMI, POR=1.61, 95 percent CI=1.92-1.71. After controlling for insurance status, the racial disparities in higher BMI persisted; p<0.0001.

Racial/ethnic disparities exist in childhood higher BMI, which were not removed after controlling for insurance coverage as a surrogate for socioeconomic status. These findings are indicative of assessing sex, religious, dietary patterns, physical activities level, environmental resources, social media resources; and geographic locale as confounders in race/ethnicity and higher BMI association.

Understanding the predisposing factors to obesity/overweight among diverse populations is essential in developing and implementing intervention programs in addressing this epidemic in our nation.

Parental feeding practice (PFP) plays an important role in child’s eating behavior and weight status, but less information is available about its role in the Thai family setting. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of PFP on child’s gender and body mass index (BMI).

Participants included 227 parents-child dyads from the suburban area of Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand. Children aged 9-12 years and parents who were either child’s mother, father or grandfather/grandmother were enrolled in the study. Body weight, height, waist circumference and body fat were measured in all children. Eating behavior of each child was assessed by using child’s eating questionnaire. Parents also provided their feeding practices in child feeding questionnaires. Information on household food security was also obtained from children’s parents.

There was significant difference in eating behaviors and home environment between child’s genders. For child’s eating behavior, mean total eating scores of girls were significantly greater (p=0.002) than that of boys and that the inappropriate home environment was more found in families of boys than girls. Regarding feeding practice, parents used more food restriction (p=0.008) and monitoring on child’s eating (p=0.042) in girls than boys. Parents put more pressure to eat on the normal weight than obese children (p=0.001). Regression analysis revealed that, apart from parental BMI and household income, PFPs have a significant impact (15.6 percent explained variance) on child’s BMI.

This study highlights the importance of being aware of child’s gender and weight status when feeding practices were provided to them. Nutrition education for parents should take account for parents’ perceptions and concerns as well as the modification of feeding practices to improve children’s eating behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in night eating status according to adolescents’ body mass index (BMI).

This was a cross-sectional study that included a total of 688 middle-school students. The subjects were categorized as underweight, normal weight and overweight according to their BMI, and their night eating intake patterns, night eating menu preference and intake frequency were compared and analyzed.

With regard to their night eating frequency, 39.8 per cent replied almost never, while 24.3 per cent replied once a week and less and 22.5 per cent replied two to three times a week. Among 11 night eating menus, the preference for fast foods, confectioneries, street foods and noodles was significantly higher in the underweight group than in the overweight group. The intake frequency of night eating menus such as fast foods, confectioneries and breads increased in the following order: overweight, normal and underweight group. The underweight group had a higher frequency of night eating, and they preferred to eat snacks more frequently from their night eating menu.

In conclusion, it is necessary to form positive dietary habits including nighttime eating for proper dietary management of adolescents.