Quantitative analysis and comparison of BMI among Han, Tibetan, and Uygur university students in Northwest China

Longitudinal changes in Chinese minority college students' health-related fitness: A multilevel latent growth curve modeling approach

PURPOSE

The study aimed to test the overall changes of health-related fitness (HRF) in minority Chinese college students and to examine HRF differences in gender, race, and year in college. Method: Participants (n = 1320) were minority college students with more than two-thirds females (ie 76.1%), and Hui, Tibetan, and Mongolia consisted of 13.8%, 13.8%, and 11.2%, respectively. Student HRF was tracked for four years. Data were analyzed using multilevel latent growth curve modeling. Results: Muscular strength and endurance were the weakest component in minority college students' HRF, while body mass index was within the category of "excellent". Males outperformed female on all components of HRF. Conclusions: It is suggested that interventions concerning minority females' HRF and muscular strength and endurance for both genders be constructed and tested.

Nutritional Challenges and Dietary Practices of Ethnic Minority (Indigenous) Groups in China: A Critical Appraisal

Indigenous food systems can affect multiple aspects of Indigenous people's health. In China, the government declared that there are no Indigenous people in China and used the term “ethnic minority groups” instead. However, to date, no attempt has been made to investigate the nutrition status and dietary practices of all 55 ethnic minority groups. To understand this pertinent issue, a systematic review is required. The main selection criteria were publications should be about nutrition status or dietary practices among ethnic minority groups in China, specify the name of the ethnic minority group, and be published within the past 10 years. For this literature review, 111 publications were selected through Wanfang Med Online for Chinese publications and Google Scholar for English publications. Linear regressions were applied to explore what factors can affect the total number of publications for an ethnic minority group. The main findings include that only 15 ethnic minority groups have dietary intake data representing the general people of the ethnic group; only seven ethnic minority groups have data for both nutrition status (anthropometric and nutrients intake/deficiency) and dietary practices (dietary intake and dietary habits); there are still 10 ethnic minority groups with a total number of population 845,420 that lack studies on both nutrition status and dietary practices; ethnic minority groups are suffering from double-burden malnutrition and consuming unbalanced diets; primary and middle school students are the most prevalent study population than any other age group due to easy access; and an ethnic minority group is likely to have more publications about nutrition status and dietary practices if they have a larger population or are unique to a region. The results indicate that more national-level programs and timely nutrition and dietary reports should be implemented to address double-burden malnutrition and unbalanced diets among ethnic minority groups in China. More studies involving maternal nutrition, targeting underrepresented ethnic minority groups and age groups, and exploring traditional food systems in China are also essential to better understand and address this issue.

The Relationship between Body Mass Index and Physical Fitness among Chinese University Students: Results of a Longitudinal Study

Over the past few decades, a gradual increase in sedentary lifestyles along with the increased consumption of a modern, hypercaloric diet has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of those classified as overweight or obese in China. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has become a key public health issue. However, it is important to be cautious when interpreting the literature as the majority of studies apply cross-sectional data to assess and subjectively compare the relationship between physical fitness and being overweight and obese. In the present study, longitudinal data were collected from 3066 students (enrolled in 2014) at a university in China at the beginning of each academic year throughout their four-year university program. The aim of this study was to analyze the various associations between BMI, explosive power, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory endurance, and a random-intercept panel model (RIPM) was separately employed on male and female participants to identify between- and within-person variations. In this way, the associations for between-person physical fitness and normal/overweight/obese weight ranges, and for within-person physical fitness and normal/overweight/obese weight ranges could be observed. The results of this study revealed that every physical fitness test chosen for evaluation (such as the standing long jump for explosive power or the distance run for cardiorespiratory endurance) was negatively related to the BMI results, irrespective of sex, with the notable exception of the flexibility results. In addition, this study showed that both males and females exhibited positively correlated results in both between-person BMI and flexibility as well as within-person BMI and flexibility. Furthermore, the relationships between and within persons of cardiorespiratory endurance, explosive power, and flexibility all showed positive correlations across both sexes. The dynamics between physical fitness and BMI identified in this study could prove useful to practitioners and researchers investigating such relationships in the future.

A Comparative Study of Nutritional Status, Knowledge Attitude and Practices (KAP) and Dietary Intake between International and Chinese Students in Nanjing, China

University students tend to have poor dietary practices, which ultimately affect their nutritional status. International students are becoming more prevalent in China. The current study aimed to compare the nutritional status, knowledge attitude and practices (KAP) and dietary intake between international and Chinese students in China. A comparative study was conducted in undergraduate students of Nanjing Medical University aged 17–31 years including 308 international and 393 Chinese students. Data was collected by self-administered questionnaire. Body composition was detected by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Student t-test and chi square test were used for comparison. Linear regressions were used for association of nutritional status with determinants. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in international student was higher than Chinese students. International male and female students were having significantly (p < 0.05) high BMI and percent body fats than Chinese male and female students. Nutritional KAP scores of Chinese students was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than international students. As for diet consumption, daily milk consumption was high in international students while daily egg and weekly fish and meat consumption were found more in Chinese students. Fast foods and carbonated drinks weekly consumption was significantly (p < 0.001) high in international students. After adjusted for age, gender, education, sleeping duration and physical exercise, the inverse association of nutritional KAP with BMI remained significant. Our data indicate that international students had more percent body fats, less nutritional KAP scores and unhealthy dietary habits than Chinese students. Proper nutrition education and guidance for improving good habits and nutritional status is suggested for international students.

The Relationship between Lifestyle Factors and Body Compositionin Young Adults

Background: Little is known of how lifestyle factors might influence on body composition parameters in young adults from Croatia. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the lifestyle factors and body composition in young adults. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, participants were 271 university students (59.0% of women). Body composition was measured by using bioelectric impendance analysis (BIA). Blood pressure and heart rate were measured according to standardized protocol and Mediterranean diet adherence (MD), physical activity (PA) and psychological distress (PD) were assessed with validated questionnaires. Results: Self-rated health (SRH) and PA were inversely associated with weight, body-mass index (BMI), fat-mass percentage and blood pressure in men and with weight, BMI, fat-mass percentage and heart rate in women. Higher levels of SRH and PA were positively associated with fat-free mass percentage in both men and women. Smoking was positively associatedwith BMI and fat-mass percentage in women and with heart rate in men. Alcohol consumption was positively associated with weight and BMI in women and fat-mass percentage and heart rate in men, yet inversely associated with fat-free mass percentage only in men. PD was positively associated with weight and blood pressure in men and with BMI, fat-mass percentage and blood pressure in women. Conclusions: Our study shows that higher levels of SRH, MD and PA are related with healthy body composition parameters in young adults. Special interventions and policies that enhance PA and MD and decrease substance use and misuse (SUM) and PD should be implemented within the university school systems.

Prevalence of overweight/obesity and its associated factors among university students from 22 countries

Obesity among young people increases lifetime cardiovascular risk. This study assesses the prevalence of overweight/obesity and its associated factors among a random sample of university students from 22 universities in 22 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. This cross-sectional survey comprised of a self-administered questionnaire and collected anthropometric measurements. The study population was 6773 (43.2%) males and 8913 (56.8%) females, aged 16 to 30 years (mean 20.8 years, SD = 2.6). Body mass index (BMI) was used for weight status. Among men, the prevalence of underweight was 10.8%, normal weight 64.4%, overweight 18.9% and obesity 5.8%, while among women, the prevalence of underweight was 17.6%, normal weight 62.1%, overweight 14.1% and obesity 5.2%. Overall, 22% were overweight or obese (24.7% men and 19.3% women). In multivariate regression among men, younger age, coming from a higher income country, consciously avoiding fat and cholesterol, physically inactivity, current tobacco use and childhood physical abuse, and among women older age, coming from a higher income country, frequent organized religious activity, avoiding fat and cholesterol, posttraumatic stress symptoms and physical childhood abuse were associated overweight or obesity. Several gender specific risk factors identified can be utilized in health promotion programmes.