Presence of high rates of overweight and obesity among adult Marwaris of Howrah, West Bengal, India

A cross-sectional study of 220 (110 men and 110 women) adult (> 20 years) Marwaris of Howrah, West Bengal, India, was undertaken to investigate the frequency of overweight and obesity, using different criteria. Results revealed that men had significantly greater mean height, weight, waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), conicity index (CI) and fat free mass (FFM), compared with women. Women had significantly higher mean body mass index (BMI), biceps (BSF) and triceps (TSF) skinfolds, mid-upper arm (MUAC) and hip (HC) circumferences, percent body fat (PBF), fat mass index (FMI), mid-arm fat area (MAFA) and PBF/BMI ratio compared with men. The frequency of overweight (BMI > or = 25.0) was significantly higher among women (71.8%) compared with men (44.5%). Similarly, significantly more women (41.8%) had high WHR than men (22.7%). Significantly more women also had high PBF (97.3%) compared with men (90.9%). In conclusion, these results demonstrated that the level of overall and central adiposity, as well as body fat, was found to be high among Marwaris, as compared with other ethnic populations of India. Moreover, there existed significant sexual dimorphism in these measures among this ethnic group. This high level of overall and central adiposity and body fat could have severe adverse health implications in this ethnic group.