Fatness and skeletal maturity of Belgian boys 12 through 17 years of age

Abstract

Relationships between fatness and skeletal maturity are considered in a nationwide sample of 14,259 Belgian boys 12 through 17 years of age (The Leuven Growth Study of Belgian Boys). Absolute fatness was estimated from four skinfolds using the Drinkwater and Ross technique and from the sum of four skinfolds, and was related to skeletal maturity assessed by the Tanner-Whitehouse method (I and II). In addition, comparisons were made between the fattest 5% and leanest 5% of the boys at each age level. Correlations between the indices of fatness and skeletal age and relative skeletal age (the difference between skeletal and chronological ages) are positive and generally low, ranging from 0.12 to 0.39. They tend to decrease with age from 12 to 17 years. Comparisons between the extreme groups indicate that the leanest boys are more delayed in skeletal maturity, by about 0.8 years, than the fattest boys are advanced, by about 0.5 years. Stature data for the same boys are consistent with the skeletal maturity data and thus suggest that the size differences between the extreme groups are due in part to maturity differences. Over the age span 12 through 20 years, the leanest boys are reduced in stature by about -1.2 standard deviations, while the fattest boys are larger in stature by about +0.6 standard deviation units. The size differences, however, persist after skeletal maturity is attained so that there may be a specific role for fatness in influencing statural growth.

Tracking of fatness during childhood, adolescence and young adulthood: a 7-year follow-up study in Madeira Island, Portugal

“…Notwithstanding, excess fatness exerts a negative effect on those items of physical fitness in which the body is maintained in a bent arm position while hanging from a bar, moved or projected. In addition, fatness also has a negative effect on cardiorespiratory fitness (Beunen et al 1983). A significant negative relationship between aerobic fitness (walking treadmill protocol) and the rate of increasing adiposity was also observed by Johnson et al (2000) in North-American children, aged between 4.6 -11.0 years at baseline and followed annually for 3 -5 years.…”

Physical fitness of normal, stunted and overweight children 6–13 years in Oaxaca, Mexico

“…The consequences of growth stunting and owt/ob for indicators of physical fitness in children and youth have been considered, respectively, in developing (Benefice, 1998;Fellmann et al, 1998;Henneberg et al, 1998;Prista, 1998;Monyeki et al, 2005) and developed (Beunen et al, 1983;Malina et al, 1995;Bovet et al, 2007;Malina, 2007, 2010) countries. This study is perhaps one of the first to compare the physical fitness of stunted, normal and owt/ob children living under marginal conditions in Mexico.…”

“…Overweight and obesity are a consequence of an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. Obese children tend to have deficient movement skills (Graf et al, 2004;Okely et al, 2004) and physical fitness compared with normal weight children (Beunen et al, 1983;Malina et al, 1995;Malina, 2001;Bovet et al, 2007;Malina, 2007, 2010), whereas the evidence on physical activity in owt/ob youth is equivocal (Malina, 2001;Malina et al, 2004).…”

Body composition and physical fitness of undernourished South African rural primary school children

“…In the last decades, information about the relationships between body composition and physical fitness in children from developed countries has been published (Malina, 1975(Malina, , 1994Beunen et al, 1983;Malina et al, 1995Malina et al, , 1998. These studies revealed that excessive fatness has a negative impact on performance tasks in which the body is projected through space, as in long jump, sprint, and on tasks in which the body must be lifted in space as in bent arm hang.…”