Estimating the changes in energy flux that characterize the rise in obesity prevalence.

Background: The daily energy imbalance gap associated with the current population weight gain in the obesity epidemic is relatively small. However, the substantially higher body weights of populations that have accumulated over several years are associated with a substantially higher total energy expenditure (TEE) and total energy intake (TEI), or energy flux (EnFlux = TEE = TEI).

Objective: The objective was to develop an equation relating EnFlux to body weight in adults for estimating the rise in EnFlux associated with the obesity epidemic.

Optimal waist cutpoint for screening for dysglycaemia and metabolic risk: evidence from a Maori cohort.

We sought to identify the sex-specific cut-off in waist circumference which best identifies those with metabolic abnormalities consistent with the metabolic syndrome (MS) among Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand of Polynesian origin. In 3816 self-identified Maori (2742 women, 1344 men) a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test, fasting lipid, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were made. MS components were defined by Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III criteria.

The New Zealand experience in peer support interventions among people with diabetes.

Background: Peer-to-peer support has the potential to assist people with diabetes, or at risk of diabetes.

Objective: To review the development of diabetes peer support initiatives in New Zealand.

Methods: A systematic review of diabetes peer support publications from New Zealand, supplemented by unpublished records from Diabetes New Zealand (DNZ, the national diabetes patient organization) and the two major regional initiatives in South Auckland and Waikato.

Body size, body composition and fat distribution: comparative analysis of European, Maori, Pacific Island and Asian Indian adults.

Although there is evidence that Asian Indians, Polynesians and Europeans differ in their body fat (BF)-BMI relationships, detailed comparative analysis of their underlying body composition and build characteristics is lacking. We investigated differences in the relationships between body fatness and BMI, fat distribution, muscularity, bone mineral mass, leg length and age-related changes in body composition between these ethnic groups. Cross-sectional analysis of 933 European, Maori, Pacific Island and Asian Indian adult volunteers was performed for total and percentage of BF, abdominal fat, thigh fat, appendicular muscle mass, bone mineral content and leg length measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Correspondence between human diet, body composition and stable isotopic composition of hair and breath in Fijian villagers.

The main aim of this work was to describe the relationship between diet, and hair and breath isotopic composition. From one Fijian rural village, hair and breath samples were procured from 20 women. Physical anthropometrics were made, and hair (13)C/(12)C and (15)N/(14)N and breath (13)C/(12)C were measured.

Point-of-care testing as a tool for screening for diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Aim: To determine the utility of finger-prick point-of-care testing (POCT) of blood glucose for the detection of dysglycaemia.

Methods: A fasting POCT and an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with laboratory assays were performed as part of the baseline screening for 5309 participants enrolled in the Te Wai o Rona Diabetes Prevention Strategy. Participants were aged 46 +/- 19 years with no self-reported diabetes.

Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and impaired fasting glucose among Maori in Te Wai o Rona: Diabetes Prevention Strategy.

Aims: To describe the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) ("dysglycaemia") among Maori.

Methods: Te Wai o Rona: Diabetes Prevention Strategy was a trial of lifestyle change among Maori families in the Waikato/Lakes areas of New Zealand. All Maori family household members aged > or = 28 years, without known diabetes, were invited to participate through primary care, community, and media approaches.

Vitamin D status of Year 3 children and supplementation through schools with fortified milk.

Objective: To evaluate levels of vitamin D3 and HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), and the ratio of HDL-C to LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), in schoolchildren receiving vitamin-D-fortified, fat-depleted, high-Ca milk in schools.

Design: Cross-sectional study of previously randomised schools receiving supplemental milk, compared with a matched control group.

Setting: Low-decile Year 1-6 schools in the Waikato region of New Zealand.

Food frequency information--relationships to body composition and apparent growth in 4-year-old children in the Pacific Island Family Study.

Aims: To record at the 4-year measurement point for the Pacific Island Family Study the most frequently eaten foods and to identify associations with growth and body composition.

Methods: A food frequency questionnaire relating to consumption of 111 foods over a 4 week period was administered to the 739 children, to be completed by a parent. Body composition of the children was measured by anthropometry and body fatness by bioimpedance analysis.

Validation of a 7-day physical activity diary against doubly-labelled water.

Background: The assessment of physical activity intensity and duration is essential for understanding group activity patterns.

Methods: The present study evaluated the validity of measurement of total energy expenditure (TEE) and physical activity level (PAL) using a categorized physical activity diary. In 29 young healthy men, aged 18-27 years, with body mass index range 21-43 kg m(-2), TEE using doubly-labelled water (DLW), resting metabolic rate (RMR) by indirect calorimetry, physical activity level (PAL defined as TEE/RMR) and activity pattern, timing and level from 7-day physical activity diaries were determined.

Development and piloting of a community health worker-based intervention for the prevention of diabetes among New Zealand Maori in Te Wai o Rona: Diabetes Prevention Strategy.

Objective: The progression from impaired glucose tolerance (IGT)/impaired fasting glucose (IFG) to type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed through intensive lifestyle changes. How to translate this to implementation across whole communities remains unclear. We now describe the results to a pilot of a personal trainer (Maori Community Health Worker, MCHW) approach among Maori in New Zealand.

Risk factors for excess body fatness in New Zealand children.

Objective: To identify demographic and lifestyle risk factors for excess body fatness in a multiethnic sample of New Zealand children.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: A total of 1229 European, Polynesian, Asian, and 'Other' children aged 5-11 y (603 male, 626 female) living in New Zealand.

Indices of fatness and relationships with age, ethnicity and lipids in New Zealand European, Māori and Pacific children.

Background/objectives: To investigate the relationships between body mass index (BMI), body fatness, ethnicity, age and blood lipids.

Subjects/method: In a subsample (N=643) of the 2002 New Zealand Child Nutrition Survey (N=3275, age 5-14 years) consisting Māori (89 boys, 69 girls), Pacific (154 boys, 194 girls) and European (71 boys, 66 girls) ethnic groups, fat-free mass (FFM) was determined by bioimpedance analysis. FFM index (FFMI, FFM/height(2)), fat mass index (FMI, fat mass/height(2)) and percentage body fat (%BF) were derived.

Low prevalence of retinopathy, but high prevalence of nephropathy among Maori with newly diagnosed diabetes-Te Wai o Rona: Diabetes Prevention Strategy.

Aims/hypothesis: To describe the prevalence of retinopathy and microalbuminuria at diagnosis of diabetes in a predominantly Maori study population.

Methods: Biomedical assessment including photographic retinal examination was undertaken among 157 (68.9% of eligible) members of Maori families (3.

Increasing activity and improving nutrition through a schools-based programme: Project Energize. 1. Design, programme, randomisation and evaluation methodology.

Project Energize is a through-school nutrition and activity programme that is being evaluated in a 2-year, cluster-randomised, longitudinal study. The present paper describes the background of the programme and study, the programme development and delivery, the study methodology including randomisation, measurement and analysis tools and techniques, and the mix of the study population. The programme is being delivered to sixty-two primary schools with sixty-two control schools, each limb containing about 11,000 students.

Dietary patterns and vitamin B(12) status of migrant Indian preadolescent girls.

Background: Inter-generational dietary patterns are implicated in the development of adult disease and have a critical role in cell division, growth and development.

Objective: The assessment of B(12) status in six meat-eating (ME) and six non-meat-eating (NME) 9-11 years old, Tanner stage 1, migrant Indian girls.

Design: B(12) status was assessed by haematology, fasting B(12), folate, methyl malonic acid (MMA) and 7-day-diet-diary analysis.

International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire (NZPAQ): a doubly labelled water validation.

Background: Accurate measurement of physical activity is a pre-requisite for monitoring population health and for evaluating effective interventions. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is used as a comparable and standardised self-report measure of habitual physical activity of populations from different countries and socio-cultural contexts. The IPAQ has been modified to produce a New Zealand physical activity questionnaire (NZPAQ).

Reduction of abdominal fat and chronic disease factors by lifestyle change in migrant Asian Indians older than 50 years.

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a group diet and physical activity intervention on body composition, blood lipid profile and insulin resistance in migrant Asian Indian volunteers. Total body and abdominal fat, waist girth, serum glucose, insulin and lipids were measured one month before and immediately prior to an intervention designed to encourage increased physical activity and improved diet. Measurements were repeated after a 5-month period of altered exercise and dietary habits.

Body fatness, physical activity, and nutritional behaviours in Asian Indian immigrants to New Zealand.

Body fatness, physical activity, and nutritional behaviours were assessed in 112 (50 male, 62 female) Asian Indians living in New Zealand. Participants were aged 44-91 years (mean 67.5 +/- 7.

Application of the 2006 WHO growth standard from birth to 4 years to Pacific Island children.

Background: Pacific adults and children have very high rates of obesity.

Objective: Body size at birth, 2- and 4 years for the whole cohort, compliant (not smoking and breastfed) and non-compliant children was compared to the 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) growth standard using z-scores.

Design: Longitudinal data (n=659) from the 2000 Pacific Island family birth cohort study of weight at birth and weight and height at 2- and 4 years was analysed.

Food security, selection, and healthy eating in a Pacific Community in Auckland New Zealand.

When an infant is brought home to the family, it is often a time of emotional, economic and physical stress due to the extra demands placed on parents. Household food security means "access at all times to enough and nutritionally appropriate food to provide the energy and nutrients needed to maintain an active and healthy life". Questions about food security were asked of 1376 Pacific Island mothers (as part of the Pacific Island Family Study) approximately six weeks after the birth of their baby.

Interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and insulin relationships to body composition, metabolism and resting energy expenditure in a migrant Asian Indian population.

Objective: Systemic inflammation and insulin resistance may play important roles in the pathogenesis of obesity-related diseases for which migrant Asian Indians are at particularly high risk. We examined relationships between markers of insulin resistance and inflammation, resting energy expenditure (REE), and body composition.

Design And Methods: Measurements were made of total and regional body composition, including regional fat mass (FM) and appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), REE by indirect calorimetry and fasting interleukin (IL)-6, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, glucose and insulin, in 79 healthy Asian Indians (38F, 41M; age 30-49 years) from urban Auckland, New Zealand.

BMI, fat and muscle differences in urban women of five ethnicities from two countries.

Objective: To investigate body composition differences, especially the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and percent body fat (%BF), among five ethnic groups.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Subjects: Seven hundred and twenty-one apparently healthy women aged 18-60 years (BMI: 17.

Are energy drinks contributing to the obesity epidemic?

The consumption of energy drinks containing sucrose and caffeine is increasing worldwide. Ten healthy women aged 18 to 22 years and fasted overnight were randomly allocated to a standardised dose of sucrose either as an "energy" drink (containing sucrose and caffeine) or lemonade on the first day and then crossed over to the alternative drink on a second day. For thirty minutes before and thirty minutes after drinking oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production were measured in the resting subject breath-by-breath by indirect calorimetry and the rates of carbohydrate and fat oxidation calculated.