Prevalence of Obesity among Immigrants Living in Canada

Anup Adhikari^1,

¹Anthropometrica, Toronto, Canada

Cite this paper

Anup Adhikari. Prevalence of Obesity among Immigrants Living in Canada. American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2014; 2(1):35-39. doi: 10.12691/AJSSM-2-1-7

Abstract

Canadian who were living in Toronto for the past fifteen years after migrating from their own countries and maintaining their own traditional food habits, were studied for their adiposity and body composition. Body composition was analyzed by bio-impedance method using bioelectrical body composition analyzer and BMI was calculated by standard method. Average age, height, weight, fat % and BMI for the males were 34.2 yr (± 12.3), 175.8 cm (± 8.2), 85.5 kg (± 17.5), 23.6 % (± 7.4) and 27.6 kg.m² (± 5.2) respectively whereas those for their female counterparts were 30.9 yr (± 11.3), 163.7 cm (± 6.5), 71.1 kg (± 17.1), 31.8 % (± 8.2) and 26.5 kg.m^-2 (± 5.9) respectively. A wide range of Fat % were observed in both male and female Canadians which were 7.3% - 50.0% for male and 8.5 %-52.6% for female. Similar wide ranges were also observed in BMI where males had a range of 14.6 kg.m^-2 - 48.5 kg.m^-2 and female had 15.2 kg.m^-2 and 50.2 kg.m^-2. In males, 66.12 % were in overweight category, out of which 38.74% were in pre-obese and 27.38% were in obese group. Similarly, in females, 52.72% were in overweight category, out of which 30.96% were in pre-obese category and 21.75% were in obese category. High adiposity was also observed both in males and females. The reason might be due to their life style and food habit.

Keywords

BMI, fat%, over weight, obese, immigrant, Canadian

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	World Health Organization (WHO), Global Database on Body Mass Index. Available from http://apps.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=in, 2004.
[2]	World Health Organization (WHO), Obesity and overweight, Fact sheet No 311, May 2012. Available from www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/index.html, 2012.
[3]	Gilmore, J., Body mass index and health. Health Reports (Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-003), 11(1): 31-43, 1999.
[4]	Katzmarzyk, P.T., The Canadian obesity epidemic, 1985-1998, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 166(8): 1039-1040, 2002.
[5]	Tremblay, M.S., Katzmarzyk, P.T., Willms, J.D., Temporal trends in overweight and obesity in Canada, 1981-1996, International Journal of Obesity, 26: 538-43,2002.
[6]	Tremblay, M.S., Pérez, C.E., Ardern, C.I., Bryan, S.N., Katzmarzyk, P.T., Obesity, overweight and ethnicity, Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-003. Health Rep 16(4):23-34. 2005.
[7]	Public health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Obesity in Canada - A joint report from the Public Health Agency of Canada and The Canadian Institute for Health information. 2011, Available from www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/hl-mvs/oic-oac/index-eng.php.
[8]	Shields, M., Tremblay, M.S., Laviolette, M., Craig, C.L., Janssen, I., Gorber, S.C., Fitness of Canadian adults: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no.82-003-X-Health Reports, vol 21, no1, March 2010, available from www.statcan.gc.ca.
[9]	Tjepkema, M., Nutrition: Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey – Adult Obesity in Canada: Measured height and weight, Issue no. 1, Component of Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-620-MWE2005001, 2010.
[10]	ISAK, International Standards for Anthropometric Assessment. ISAK manual, International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK): Lower Hutt, New Zealand, 2011.
[11]	Jaffrin, M.Y., Body composition determination by bioimpedance: an update, Curr. Opin. Clin. Nutr. Metab. Care, 12(5):482-486, 2009.
[12]	Hubert, H.B., Feinleib,M., McNamara, P.M.,Castelli, W.P., Obesity as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease: a 26 year follow up of participants in the Framingham Heart Study, Circulation, 67(5): 968-977,1983.
[13]	Colditz, G.A., Willett, W.C., Stamfer, M.J., Manson, J.E., Hennekens, C.H., Arky, R.A., Speizer, F.E., Weight as a risk factor for clinical diabetes in women, Am J Epidemiol, 132(3): 501-513,1990.
[14]	Chan, J.M., Rimm, E.B, Colditz, G.A, Stampfer, M.J., Willett, W.C., Obesity, fat distribution and weight gain as a risk factors for clinical diabetes in men, Diabetes Care, 17(9):961-969,1994.
[15]	Flegal, K.M., Shepherd, J.A., Looker, A.C., Graubard, B.I., Borrud, L.G., Ogden, C.L., Harris, T.B., Everhart, J.E., Schenker, N., Comparisons of percentage body fat, body mass index, waist circumference and waist-stature ratio in adults, Am J Clin Nutrn, 89:500-508,2009.
[16]	Brenner, D.R., Tepylo, K.,Eny, K.M., Cahill, L.E., Sohemy, A.,Comaprison of body mass index and waist circumference as predictors of cardiometabolic health in a population of young Canadian adults, Diabetology and Metabolic Syndrome, 2:28-35,2010.
[17]	St-Onge, M.P., Gallagher, D., Body composition changes with aging: The cause or the result of alterations in metabolic rate and macronutrient oxidation?, Nutrition, 26(2):152-155, 2010.
[18]	Statistics Canada, Catalogue no 82-003-X, Health Reports, January 2010, Available from www.statcan.gc.ca.
[19]	Shields, M., Tremblay, M.S., Laviolette, M., Craig, C.L., Janssen, I., Gorber, S.C., Fitness of Canadian adults: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no.82-003-X-Health Reports, vol 21, no 1, March 2010, available from www.statcan.gc.ca.