As shown in 1419 pairings of obese probands with their parents drawn from a larger series of greater than 9000 proband-parent pairings, the fathers and mothers of obese probands are of increased fatness level (+0.27 Z scores) and more often obese than expected (odds ratio 1.50 overall). However, the tendency towards increased fatness and a greater prevalence of obesity among the parents of obese probands bears a curvilinear relationship to the age of the proband, being least when the probands are young, peaking when the sons and daughters are teen-agers, and declining thereafter. Parents of lean probands in turn tend to be lean themselves (averaging -0.25 Z scores) and least often obese when their progeny are teen-aged. As shown in a two-generational context, familial obesity is best demonstrated in adolescents and their parents, either reflecting years spent in common or a specific etiology for adolescent-onset obesity.

As shown in 744 adult men and women aged 30-49 at entry and followed for 21.4 ± 0.9 years there is continuing subperiosteal expansion in both sexes as well as continuing and increasing endosteal surface resorption. In this longitudinal study, bone loss (as shown by medullary cavity expansion) begins by the 5th decade and increases thereafter. The smaller gains at the outer bone surface are essentially independent of the larger losses at the inner (endosteal) surface and neither functionally nor causally related. Though bone loss and net bone loss is nearly as great in men as in women, absolutely speaking, two-decade bone loss constitutes a larger percentage of the initially smaller bone mass in the female. In both sexes subperiosteal apposition (delta TA) and endosteal resorption (delta MA) are bone-size dependent though in diametrically opposite directions. These trends in two-decade bone change are not affected by smoking behavior, alcoholic beverage usage, antihypertensive usage, or early menopausal age. Similarly, the long-term bone changes prove to be independent of energy and mineral intakes and to long-term changes in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and vitamin D intake. Though dietary intakes do not predict long-term bone changes, the amount of tissue bone present at entry is highly correlated (> 0.93) with tissue bone 21.4 years later in men and women alike. Accordingly, only a small amount of intraindividual cortical variance in the later years still remains to be explained by life-style, dietary, medication, and error variables.

The distribution of subcutaneous fat at the triceps and subscapular skinfold sites is described for four groups of children living in Guatemala. These groups are high socioeconomic status (SES) children of Ladino (mixed Spanish and Indian) ancestry, high SES children of European ancestry, low SES Ladino children, and very low SES Indian children. The method of Healy and Tanner (1981) is used, employing regression and principal components analysis of log transformed skinfold values to divide "fatness" into two uncorrelated variables: size (amount of fat) and shape (fat pattern). Significant differences exist between groups in size, with lower SES groups having less fat than higher SES groups. No significant difference in fat pattern exists between the high SES Ladino and high SES European children. Significant differences do exist between the high SES groups and the low SES groups. The relative amount of subscapular fat increases from the high SES Ladinos and high SES Europeans, to the low SES Ladinos, to the very low SES Indians. In the high SES European and high SES Ladino samples, girls have significantly more arm fat than boys. There is no significant difference in fat patterning between boys and girls in the two low SES samples. Finally, the relative amount of subscapular fat tends to increase with age in all four samples. These results indicate that fatness and fat patterning are independent anatomical characteristics, SES influences fat patterning; low SES children of both Ladino and Indian ancestry show greater reductions in arm fat than in trunk fat compared to high SES children, sexual dimorphism in fat patterning is SES dependent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Three longitudinal samples of Guatemalan schoolchildren are compared for amounts and rates of growth in height, weight, and bone age. The samples include children of two ethnic backgrounds: Ladinos, Spanish-speaking people of, generally, Western cultural orientation; and Indians, people of Mayan cultural descent. The Indians are of very low socioeconomic status (SES) and attend a public school in a rural village. The Ladinos come from two SES groups living in Guatemala City, one of high SES attending a private school and the other of low SES attending a public school. Graphical and statistical analyses show that for all samples of boys and girls there are generally, significant differences between samples (high SES>low SES>Indian) for amounts of growth in height, weight, and bone age. Boys show significant differences in rates of growth between samples, with the high SES sample growing more rapidly than the two low SES samples. Girls show significant differences in the rate of growth in height, but not in the rate of growth in weight or bone age. For Both boys and girls, rates of growth in height and weight differ more between samples than does rate of Skeltal development. These results demonstrate that (1) SES-related deficits in growth are cumulative during childhood and early adolescence, that (2) rates of growth for boys are, generally, more sensitive to the influence of SES than are the growth rates of girls, and that (3) childhood growth deficits of low SES children of low SES children are likely to carry over into adulthood.

As shown in 702 wives with 9-12 years of education and 612 husbands similarly educated, the summed skinfolds of one spouse are influenced by the educational level of the other spouse, considerably so for the husbands. Women with 9-12 years of education married to men of lower educational attainment are higher in the sum of four skinfolds while women of similar years of schooling married to men of college education and beyond are leaner (P=0.001). Possible explanations for the effect of the education of one spouse on the fatness level of the other spouse include selective mating in the direction set by the husband's socioeconomic milieu and fatness "drift" on the part of the wives, again in the direction of the husband's socioeconomic status (SES). While these findings do not lend themselves to a simple biological explanation, they do reiterate the effects of socioeconomic variables on fatness level within populations and even within families.