Fatness and fat pattering in 12–17-year-old youth from the Chandigarh zone of Northwest India

Fatness and fat patterning were studied in a sample of 502 youth, 12–17 years of age, of high and low socioeconomic status (SES) from the Chandigarh Zone of northwest India. Fatness estimates were based on six skinfolds, while fat patterning was analyzed through the centripetal fat and waist/hip ratios, and through principal components of skinfolds. In all analyses, fat patterns were adjusted for general body fatness. Upper SES subjects were larger and fatter than lower SES subjects of the same age and sex. As expected, females displayed higher fatness levels than males, a more peripheral distribution of body fat, and lower body patterning of trunk fat. Lower SES was associated with a centripetal, rather than a peripheral, fat pattern. After correction for amount of fat, there were no differences between SES groups in the waist/hip ratio, within-sex. Compared to U.S. youth of a similar age range, Indian subjects displayed higher BMI-adjusted centripetal fat and waist/hip ratios. Lower SES was associated with reduced body fatness along with a centralized pattern of fat deposition, which could reflect a greater mobilization of peripheral fat to meet the metabolic demands of growth. While there was some suggestion of an ethnic effect in the two ratios, this could not be demonstrated with confidence.