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PubMed1996

Black and white adolescent females' perceptions of ideal body size.

A stratified, random sample of 344 White and Black adolescent females participated in a survey of ideal body size beliefs, which included responses to a questionnaire and a series of nine female and male body size drawings. Using SES and race as independent variables and BMI (kg/m2) as a covariate. Black females preferred a significantly heavier ideal female body size than Whites. They also perceived their parents and both male and female friends would select as ideal a significantly heavier female body size than White subjects. Black subjects' body size preferences were significantly more influenced by family members than were White subjects, who were significantly more influenced by their peer group. These findings suggest a greater social approval of increasing weight and body size for Black adolescent females, a desire for a smaller size by White adolescent females, and cultural differences in the influencing factors that help to communicate these body size preferences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Body mass index in young adults: Associations with parental body size and education in the CARDIA Study.

OBJECTIVES: Associations of parental education, parental body size, and offspring's education with body mass index and 7-year change in body mass index were examined among participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. METHODS: CARDIA is a study of coronary artery disease risk factors in 5115 Black and White persons aged 18 to 30 at baseline. Analyses of covariance were carried out with body mass index and change in body mass index as the dependent variables, and with parental education, parental body size, and participant education as the major independent variables. RESULTS: Father's body size was positively associated with participant's baseline body mass index among Black men, White men, and White women. Mother's body size was positively associated with baseline body mass index among all race-sex groups, and with change in body mass index among White women. Father's education was inversely associated with baseline body mass index among Black men and White women, and with change among White women. CONCLUSIONS: Parental education may influence body mass index and changes in young adulthood, especially among White women. Such associations may be both genetic and environmental and may be important for obesity prevention efforts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Is body size the cause for poor outcomes of coronary artery bypass operations in women?

Although small body size and coronary artery diameter are recognized as major contributors to the increased risk of coronary artery bypass grafting in women, few studies have established the independent influence of body size and gender on outcome. We studied 7025 consecutive patients (5694 men, 1331 women) undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting between 1990 and 1994. Women were older, had higher preoperative prevalences of urgent operation because of unstable angina, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, and single-vessel coronary artery disease (p < 0.0001), and a lower prevalence of left ventricular ejection fraction 40% or less (p < 0.0001). The prevalences of operative mortality (men, 1.8%; women, 3.5%), low-output syndrome (men, 6.6%; women, 14.8%), and myocardial infarction (men, 2.8%; women, 5.5%) were higher in women (p < 0.0001). Patients were divided into quartiles for body surface area, weight, height, and body mass index. For both men and women, there was no difference in operative mortality between the highest and lowest quartiles of body size. Women, however, had a higher prevalence of operative mortality than men in the lower quartiles of body surface area, height, and weight and in the higher quartiles of body mass index. Among men, the prevalence of low-output syndrome increased (p < 0.0001) with decreasing body surface area, weight, and body mass index, suggesting that body size did influence the prevalence of low-output syndrome. However, women had a higher prevalence of low-output syndrome than men in every category and quartile of body size (p < 0.0001). Multivariable analysis identified gender as a significant determinant of operative mortality (odds ratio 1.83, 95% confidence interval 1.27 to 2.64) and low-output syndrome (odds ratio 2.52, 95% confidence interval 2.05 to 3.11). When multivariable adjustments were made for body size and preoperative risk factors, gender remained a predictor of both operative mortality and low-output syndrome. Multivariable assessment of risk for men and women separately identified that urgent operation was a predictor of operative mortality (odds ratio 2.52, 95% confidence interval 1.32 to 5.61) and low-output syndrome (odds ratio 1.57, 95% confidence interval 1.14 to 2.17) in women but not men. In conclusion, the increased risk of coronary artery bypass grafting in women may be explained in part by dramatic differences in preoperative risk factors between men and women. In both men and women, small body size did not increase the risk of operative mortality, but may have contributed to the risk of low-output syndrome.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed2002

A statistical test of unbiased evolution of body size in birds.

Of the approximately 9500 bird species, the vast majority is small-bodied. That is a general feature of evolutionary lineages, also observed for instance in mammals and plants. The avian interspecific body size distribution is right-skewed even on a logarithmic scale. That has previously been interpreted as evidence that body size evolution has been biased. However, a procedure to test for unbiased evolution from the shape of body size distributions was lacking. In the present paper unbiased body size evolution is defined precisely, and a statistical test is developed based on Monte Carlo simulation of unbiased evolution. Application of the test to birds suggests that it is highly unlikely that avian body size evolution has been unbiased as defined. Several possible explanations for this result are discussed. A plausible explanation is that the general model of unbiased evolution assumes that population size and generation time do not affect the evolutionary variability of body size; that is, that micro- and macroevolution are decoupled, which theory suggests is not likely to be the case.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Relationship between natural variations in motoneuron number and body size in Xenopus laevis: a test for size matching.

During normal development, tadpoles of Xenopus laevis demonstrate large variations in body size that are carried through metamorphosis. This variation in size exists at the stages when lumbar lateral motor column (L-LMC) motoneurons are produced and when neuronal cell death in this neuron population occurs. Body size, hindlimb size, motoneuron number, and motoneuron size (i.e., neuron nuclear cross-sectional area) were measured in animals from three developmental stages: one prior to significant amounts of cell death, one at the peak rate of cell death, and one after cell death. The hypothesis that neuron population size is matched to peripheral size was tested by using the natural size variation found at each of these stages. The ranges of values for the measurements at the three stages were large. Significant correlations between body size and motoneuron number, as well as between motoneuron number and muscle fiber number, were present after cell death. Since these correlations emerged as cell death reduced neuron numbers, size matching may have occurred and cell death may have adjusted the L-LMC motoneuron population's size to variation in body size. In addition to the correlations between body size and motoneuron number at the end of cell death, neuron numbers before and after cell death were significantly correlated among groups of siblings. The possibility that the number of neurons after cell death was also influenced by differences in the number of L-LMC progenitors is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Optimal body size and an animal's diet.

Within many animal taxa there is a trend for the species of larger body size to eat food of lower caloric value. For example, most large extant lizards are herbivorous. Reasonable arguments based on energetic considerations are often invoked to explain this trend, yet, while these factors set limits to feasible body size, they do not in themselves mathematically produce optimum body sizes. A simple optimization model is developed here which considers food search, capture, and eating rates and the metabolic cost of these activities for animals of different sizes. The optimization criterion is defined as the net calorie gain a consumer accrues per day. This model does produce an optimum intermediate body size which increases with food quality--not the reverse. This discrepancy is accounted for, however, because the model also predicts that body size should be even more sensitive to increases in food abundance. In nature, many poor quality foods are also relatively abundant foods, hence the consumers eating them may maximize their daily energetic profit by evolving a relatively large body size. Optimum consumer body size also decreases with increases in consumer metabolic rate and "prey" speed.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Genetic and environmental influences on the tracking of body size from birth to early adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: This study identified genetic and environmental influences on the tracking of body size from birth to 16 to 18.5 years of age. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Longitudinal information was collected from a nationally representative sample of Finnish twin adolescents (birth cohorts 1975 to 1979) and their parents through questionnaires mailed when the twins were ages 16 and 18.5 years old. The sample included 702 monozygotic, 724 same-sex dizygotic, and 762 opposite-sex dizygotic sets of twins. The measures used were length, weight, ponderal index (kilograms per cubic meters), and gestational age at birth, and height, weight, and body mass index (kilograms per square meters) at 16 to 18.5 years of age. The changes in genetic and environmental influences on body size from birth to early adulthood were analyzed by quantitative genetic modeling. RESULTS: The twins who had a higher weight or ponderal index at birth were taller and heavier in early adulthood, whereas those who were longer at birth were taller, but not heavier, later in life. Adult height was affected more by the birth size than body mass index. In the genetic modeling analyses, the genetic factors accounting for the variation of body size became more apparent with age, and both genetic and environmental influences on stature had a sizable carry-over effect from birth to late adolescence, whereas for relative weight, the influences were more age-specific. DISCUSSION: The genetic and environmental architecture of body size changes from birth to adulthood. Even in monozygotic twins who share their genetic background, the initially larger twin tended to remain larger, demonstrating the long-lasting effects of fetal environment on final body size.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Body size variation among mainland populations of the western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis).

In general, squamate reptiles follow the converse to Bergmann's rule, attaining smaller sizes in cooler environments, whereas other vertebrate groups follow Bergmann's rule, attaining larger sizes in cooler areas. Intensive studies of body size evolution for species of squamates are necessary to understand the processes responsible for this trend. Here I present data on body size variation among mainland populations of the western rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis. This species consists of two well-differentiated phylogenetic clades, therefore all analyses were performed for the C. viridis group as a whole and separately for each of the two clades within the C. viridis group. Although both phylogenetic and nonphylogenetic analyses were performed, the data did not show phylogenetic conservatism, and therefore the nonphylogenetic results are preferred. I found no significant relationships between mean adult female snout-vent length and any of the physical and climatic variables that were examined for the C. viridis group using simple linear regression analysis. Examined separately, I found that individuals of the western clade, C. oreganus, were smaller in cooler and more seasonal environments, whereas individuals of the eastern clade. C. viridis sensu stricto, were larger in cooler and more seasonal areas. Thus, the observed size trends were in opposite directions for the two clades. Multiple regression analysis revealed that seasonality was a stronger predictor of body size variation than was temperature for both clades. The differences in body size trends between these clades may be due to differences in mortality rates among populations.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Skeletal muscle cellularity in mice selected for large body size and in controls.

Body composition and skeletal muscle weights, fiber diameters, fiber numbers, and RNA and DNA concentrations were studied in mice selected for large body size (GLW) compared to an unselected control (C) line. At 60 days of age, body weight of GLW mice was 70 to 75% greater than C mice, but % body water, fat or dry fat-free residue did not differ between the lines. In both GLW and C mice, greater muscle weight in males compared to females was due to larger diameter fibers and not to significant differences in fiber number between sexes, although in most cases, males had slightly higher mean fiber number. Fiber diameters were similar in the two lines and the greater muscle weights of GLW mice were due to more fibers than in the muscles of C mice. RNA and DNA concentrations were slightly, but not significantly, higher in GLW skeletal muscles.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Adjusting data to body size: a comparison of methods as applied to quantitative trait loci analysis of musculoskeletal phenotypes.

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to compare three methods of adjusting skeletal data for body size and examine their use in QTL analyses. It was found that dividing skeletal phenotypes by body mass index induced erroneous QTL results. The preferred method of body size adjustment was multiple regression. INTRODUCTION: Many skeletal studies have reported strong correlations between phenotypes for muscle, bone, and body size, and these correlations add to the difficulty in identifying genetic influence on skeletal traits that are not mediated through overall body size. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified for skeletal phenotypes often map to the same chromosome regions as QTLs for body size. The actions of a QTL identified as influencing BMD could therefore be mediated through the generalized actions of growth on body size or muscle mass. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three methods of adjusting skeletal phenotypes to body size were performed on morphologic, structural, and compositional measurements of the femur and tibia in 200-day-old C57BL/6J x DBA/2 (BXD) second generation (F(2)) mice (n = 400). A common method of removing the size effect has been through the use of ratios. This technique and two alternative techniques using simple and multiple regression were performed on muscle and skeletal data before QTL analyses, and the differences in QTL results were examined. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The use of ratios to remove the size effect was shown to increase the size effect by inducing spurious correlations, thereby leading to inaccurate QTL results. Adjustments for body size using multiple regression eliminated these problems. Multiple regression should be used to remove the variance of co-factors related to skeletal phenotypes to allow for the study of genetic influence independent of correlated phenotypes. However, to better understand the genetic influence, adjusted and unadjusted skeletal QTL results should be compared. Additional insight can be gained by observing the difference in LOD score between the adjusted and nonadjusted phenotypes. Identifying QTLs that exert their effects on skeletal phenotypes through body size-related pathways as well as those having a more direct and independent influence on bone are equally important in deciphering the complex physiologic pathways responsible for the maintenance of bone health.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Neuronal body size correlates with the number of nucleoli and Cajal bodies, and with the organization of the splicing machinery in rat trigeminal ganglion neurons.

Trigeminal ganglion neurons comprise three main cell body-size types. This cell size heterogeneity provides an excellent neuronal model to study the cell size-dependent organization and dynamics of the nucleoli, Cajal (coiled) bodies (CBs), and nuclear speckles of pre-mRNA splicing factors, nuclear structures that play a key role in the normal neuronal physiology. We have analyzed the number of nucleoli and CBs and the structural and molecular organization of CBs and nuclear speckles in the three neuronal types by using immunofluorescence with antibodies that recognize nucleoli (fibrillarin), CBs (coilin), and nuclear speckles (snRNPs), confocal microscopy, and electron microscopy. Whereas the mean number of nucleoli per neuron decreases as a function of cell size, the number of CBs per cell significantly increases in large neurons in comparison with the small ones. In addition, large neurons have a higher proportion of CBs associated with the nucleolus. In all neuronal types, CBs concentrate coilin, fibrillarin, snRNPs, and the survival motor neuron protein (SMN). Immunostaining for snRNPs shows small speckle domains and extensive areas of diffuse nucleoplasmic signal in large neurons, in contrast with the large nuclear speckles found in small neurons. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis shows that all neurons are in the range of diploid cells. These findings indicate that the fusion behavior of nucleoli, the formation of CBs and their relationships with the nucleolus, as well as the compartmentalization of the pre-mRNA splicing machinery, is related to cell body size in the trigeminal ganglion neurons. Because transcriptional activity is a basic determinant mechanism of cell size in diploid cells, we suggest that our findings reflect a distinct transcription-dependent organization of the nucleolus and splicing machinery in the three cell types of trigeminal ganglion neurons.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Somatic polyploidization and cellular proliferation drive body size evolution in nematodes.

Most of the hypodermis of a rhabditid nematode such as Caenorhabditis elegans is a single syncytium. The size of this syncytium (as measured by body size) has evolved repeatedly in the rhabditid nematodes. Two cellular mechanisms are important in the evolution of body size: changes in the numbers of cells that fuse with the syncytium, and the extent of its acellular growth. Thus nematodes differ from mammals and other invertebrates in which body size evolution is caused by changes in cell number alone. The evolution of acellular syncytial growth in nematodes is also associated with changes in the ploidy of hypodermal nuclei. These nuclei are polyploid as a consequence of iterative rounds of endoreduplication, and this endocycle has evolved repeatedly. The association between acellular growth and endoreduplication is also seen in C. elegans mutations that interrupt transforming growth factor-beta signaling and that result in dwarfism and deficiencies in hypodermal ploidy. The transforming growth factor-beta pathway is a candidate for being involved in nematode body size evolution.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Perceptions of healthy and desirable body size in urban Senegalese women.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the cultural ideals for body size held by urban Senegalese women; to determine the body size that women associate with health; and to estimate the change in prevalence of female obesity in an urban neighbourhood of Dakar. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, population-based study in the subject's home, using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, conducted in the same Dakar neighbourhood as that of a previous survey conducted in 1996. SUBJECTS: A total of 301 randomly selected women, aged 20-50 y, living in a specific Dakar neighbourhood, Senegal. MEASUREMENTS: A total of 32 items concerning body satisfaction, social status, health and individual attributes to associate with one of six photographic silhouettes; body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio by anthropometry; and measures of economic status. RESULTS: In all, 26.6% of women were overweight (BMI 25-29.9 kg/m2) and 18.6% were obese (BMI > or =30 kg/m2) compared with 22.4 and 8.0% respectively in 1996. Overweight was the most socially desirable body size, although obesity itself was seen as undesirable, associated with greediness and the development of diabetes and heart disease. Lay definitions of overweight and normal weight differed substantially from health definitions, as one-third of the sample saw the 'overweight' category as normal. Over a third of women with BMI > or =25 kg/m2 wanted to gain more weight. CONCLUSION: There has been a sharp rise in the prevalence of obesity in Senegalese women living in a Dakar neighbourhood over the last 7 y. In general, overweight body sizes (but not obese) were seen in a positive light. The finding that the term 'overweight' made little sense to these Senegalese women could have important implications for developing public health policies.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

The association between global self-esteem, physical self-concept and actual vs ideal body size rating in Chinese primary school children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the discrepancy between actual and ideal body size rating is related to Chinese children's global self-esteem and global physical self-concept. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study of school children who completed questionnaires related to global self-esteem, global physical self-concept, and actual vs ideal body size. SUBJECTS: A total of 386 Chinese children (44% girls and 56% boys) aged 7-13 y from a primary school in Hong Kong, China. MEASUREMENTS: Global self-esteem and physical self-concept were measured using the physical self-descriptive questionnaire. Actual vs ideal body size discrepancy was established using the silhouette matching task. RESULTS: No significant relationship was found between global self-esteem and actual-ideal body size discrepancy of children. Global physical self-concept had a moderate negative correlation (r=-0.12) with the body size discrepancy score and the discrepancy score explained very limited variance (R(2)=0.015; F(1, 296)=4.51; P<0.05) in global physical self-concept. Three body size discrepancy groups (none, positive, and negative) were examined to see if there were any significant differences in global self-esteem, global physical self-concept, and specific dimensions of physical self-concept. A significant overall difference was found between groups for global physical self-concept (F=3.73, P<0.05) and the physical self-concept subscales of physical activity (F=3.25, P<0.05), body fat (F=61.26, P<0.001), and strength (F=5.26, P<0.01). Boys scored significantly higher than girls on global physical self-concept-especially in the sport competence, strength, and endurance subscales. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the actual-ideal body size discrepancy rating of Chinese children was not predictive of global physical self-concept and global self-esteem. These findings are contrary to those reported in Western children, which may mean that culture plays a role in the formation of body attitude.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Similarity of mammalian body size across the taxonomic hierarchy and across space and time.

Although it is commonly assumed that closely related animals are similar in body size, the degree of similarity has not been examined across the taxonomic hierarchy. Moreover, little is known about the variation or consistency of body size patterns across geographic space or evolutionary time. Here, we draw from a data set of terrestrial, nonvolant mammals to quantify and compare patterns across the body size spectrum, the taxonomic hierarchy, continental space, and evolutionary time. We employ a variety of statistical techniques including "sib-sib" regression, phylogenetic autocorrelation, and nested ANOVA. We find an extremely high resemblance (heritability) of size among congeneric species for mammals over approximately 18 g; the result is consistent across the size spectrum. However, there is no significant relationship among the body sizes of congeneric species for mammals under approximately 18 g. We suspect that life-history and ecological parameters are so tightly constrained by allometry at diminutive size that animals can only adapt to novel ecological conditions by modifying body size. The overall distributions of size for each continental fauna and for the most diverse orders are quantitatively similar for North America, South America, and Africa, despite virtually no overlap in species composition. Differences in ordinal composition appear to account for quantitative differences between continents. For most mammalian orders, body size is highly conserved, although there is extensive overlap at all levels of the taxonomic hierarchy. The body size distribution for terrestrial mammals apparently was established early in the Tertiary, and it has remained remarkably constant over the past 50 Ma and across the major continents. Lineages have diversified in size to exploit environmental opportunities but only within limits set by allometric, ecological, and evolutionary constraints.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Body image assessment using body size estimation in recent studies on anorexia nervosa. A brief review.

The concept of body image is thought to consist of two components: body size perception and attitudes towards the body. Correspondingly, two distinct modalities of body image dysfunction seem to be relevant for anorexia nervosa: perceptual body size distortion and cognitive-evaluative dissatisfaction. Consequently, various techniques to assess body image have been developed to assess body image disturbance in eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa. This review article compares the numerous methods of assessing body image used in recent studies on anorexia nervosa and discusses the various findings. The findings suggest that body image disturbance is not due to any perceptual deficit, but is based on cognitive-evaluative dissatisfaction. Although overestimation of body size is not a universal symptom in eating disorders, this issue is interesting in terms of prognostic and therapeutic implications. Thus, body size estimation remains a worthwhile approach to assessing body image disturbance in eating disorders. The identification of sensory and non-sensory factors in body image is considered a promising issue for further research.

Anorexia Nervosa↗
PubMed2001

Young children's figural selections: accuracy of reporting and body size dissatisfaction.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate children's accuracy of reporting body size and gender differences in body size dissatisfaction among preadolescent Australian children. METHOD: In an Australian partial replication of Dowdney, Woodward, Pickles, and Skuse (International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 29-40, 1995), children between 5 and 10 years of age (N = 195) made current and ideal figure choices using the Body Image Perception and Attitude Scale for Children (BIPAS-C), a nonsequentially ordered linear figural scale. RESULTS: The results are consistent with accurate identification of their body size by Australian children at all the age levels. The girls, irrespective of age, preferred smaller ideal than current shapes and expressed greater body size dissatisfaction than did the boys. DISCUSSION: The results are consistent with the body dissatisfaction found in adolescent and adult women and with those found in preadolescent children in the United States, Britain, and Israel.

Body Constitution↗
PubMed1986

Effects of body size on kinetics of glucose metabolism and on nitrogen balance in growing cattle.

Effects of body size on the kinetics of glucose metabolism were examined. In trial 1, steers were fed 6 kg of an 80:20 concentrate:roughage diet daily across a weight range of 226 to 470 kg. In trial 2, steers were fed 4.5 kg of a 45:55 concentrate:roughage diet daily across a weight range of 134 to 390 kg. Glucose irreversible loss averaged 820 +/- 32 and 461 +/- 13 mg/min for trials 1 and 2 and was not affected by body size. Thus, glucose irreversible loss seems to be regulated by feed intake when intake is above maintenance. Body size had no effect on glucose total entry rate, recycling or pool size. Blood glucose concentration and glucose space decreased at 0.004 mg X ml-1 X kg-1 and 0.002 fractional units body wt X kg-1 as body size increased. Digestible energy and nitrogen balance were measured in trial 2. Digestibility of energy increased at 0.0054 Mcal X d-1 X kg-1 as body size increased. Nitrogen retention averaged 28.2 g X d-1 and was not influenced by body size even though energy intake approached maintenance amounts at the end of the trial. On the basis of urinary nitrogen excretion data, we conclude that the maximum net contribution of amino acid carbon to glucose synthesis was 8% of glucose carbon.

Absorption↗