Anthropometric predictors of body fat as measured by hydrostatic weighing in Guatemalan adults.

Background: Most predictive equations currently used to assess percentage body fat (%BF) were derived from persons in industrialized Western societies.

Objective: We developed equations to predict %BF from anthropometric measurements in rural and urban Guatemalan adults.

Design: Body density was measured in 123 women and 114 men by using hydrostatic weighing and simultaneous measurement of residual lung volume.

Energy requirements of children and adolescents.

Total energy expenditure (TEE) was calculated at 1-18 years of age from measurements with doubly labelled water (DLW) in 483 boys and 646 girls, and heart rate monitoring (HRM) in 318 boys and 162 girls. Studies on obese, underweight and stunted groups were not included. TEE of populations with different lifestyles was estimated by factorial calculations in 42 studies on time allocation involving 1982 boys and 1969 girls in developed industrialised countries, and 1236 boys and 1116 girls in developing countries.

Validation of a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire for use among adults in Guatemala.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the validity of a 52-item semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) by comparing it with multiple 24-hour dietary recalls.

Design: Three non-consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls and one FFQ were administered over a one-month period.

Setting: Four communities of El Progreso, Guatemala.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors are related to adult adiposity but not birth weight in young guatemalan adults.

Fetal undernutrition has been hypothesized to program inappropriate metabolic responses to nutritional abundance in later life. Most studies have been conducted in industrialized countries. We studied the relationship between birth weight and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among 187 men and 198 women age 20-29 y (mean age 24 y) who had participated in a longitudinal study conducted in Guatemala between 1969 and 1977.

Rural-to-urban migration and cardiovascular disease risk factors in young Guatemalan adults.

Background: Migration to cities may increase cardiovascular disease risk factors in developing countries. We examined rural and urban individuals who were born in the same villages and shared similar childhood experiences.

Methods: Blood lipids and glucose, blood pressure, anthropometry, body composition, physical activity, and food, tobacco and alcohol consumption were examined in 161 men and 193 women, 19-29 years old, living in their village of birth (76 commuted to work in Guatemala City), and in 76 men and 43 women living in the city.