Paul Deurenberg

National University of Singapore; Wageningen University Netherlands · department of medicine; department of nutrition & epidemiology

Background and Objectives: Indonesia is currently facing double burden malnutrition in children. As overweight and obesity are due to a disturbed energy balance, this study aimed to assess the association of total energy intake and physical activity with the prevalence of overweight among Indonesian children. Methods and Study Design: The data used...

This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine associations between environmental factors and indicators of adiposity. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional Southeast Asian Nutritional Survey of 1,161 Thai children aged 7.0-12.9 years who were recruited by multi-stage sampling. Standardized questionnaires provided data on socio-eco...

This study describes the physical activity of primary school children according to sociodemographic characteristics and activity domains. Using the Malaysian South East Asian Nutrition Surveys data, 1702 children aged 7 to 12 years were included in the analysis. Physical activity was reported as a total score and categorized into low, medium, and h...

The study investigated the association between breakfast types consumed, daily energy intake, and body mass index for age Z-score (BAZ). Cross-sectional data from 1258 children aged 7 to 12.9 years were analyzed for breakfast type, nutrient intakes, BAZ, and proportion of overweight or obesity. Analysis of covariance was used to compare energy and...

This study aims to validate skinfold (SKF) and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) against dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in determining body fat percentage (BF%) of Malay children aged 7 to 11 years. A total of 160 children had their BF% assessed using SKF and BIA, with DXA as the criterion method. Four SKF equations (SKFBray, SKFJohnst...

In a population sample of 385 children, 6 to 11 years old, venous blood parameters-hemoglobin (Hb), ferritin, red blood cell count (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), C-reactive protein (CRP), and α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP)-were determined to get insight into the...

Children's physical activity has been correlated with child characteristics and social or physical environment. This study aimed to compare preschoolers' physical activity among various sociodemographic characteristics and to determine barriers, motivators, and environmental factors for active play. A total of 835 preschoolers were included in this...

Objective: Explore the association between physically active behavior and obesity in 7-to 12-years-old Thai children. Material and Method: As part of SEANUTS Thailand, information on anthropometry, physical activity, and sociodemographic variables were collected in 7-to 12-years-old urban and rural Thai children. Multi-stage sampling technique was...

The impact of vitamin D status on bone health and other health conditions is receiving increasingly attention. We aimed to determine the association between environmental factors and vitamin D intake by examining serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels in Thai children. We conducted a cross sectional study among 477 Thai children from 4 regions...

Background: The prevalence of stunting, thinness, overweight, and obesity among children differs by ethnicity. It is not known whether differences in body build across the ethnic groups influence the interpretation of nutritional parameters. Objective: To explore the differences in body build across the 5 main ethnic groups in Malaysia and to de...

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Objective Health and nutritional information for many countries in the South-East Asian region is either lacking or no longer up to date. The present study aimed to calculate length/height percentile values for the South-East Asian Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS) populations aged 0·5–12 years, examine the appropriateness of pooling SEANUTS data for calc...

Background/objectives: Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is used to measure bone quality and is known to be safe, radiation free and relatively inexpensive compared with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) that is considered the gold standard for bone status assessments. However, there is no consensus regarding the validity of QUS for measuring bon...

The South East Asian Nutrition Surveys (SEANUTS) were conducted in 2010/2011 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in country representative samples totalling 16,744 children aged 0.5 to 12 years. Information on socio-demographic and behavioural variables was collected using questionnaires and anthropometric variables were measured. In a sub...

Aim. To validate a radial quantitative ultrasound (QUS) system with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), a criterion technique in bone status assessment among children. Methods. Bone health was evaluated using a radial QUS system (Sunlight Omnisense 8000P) to measure the speed of sound (SOS) at one-third distal radius of the nondominant hand and...

An emerging evidence suggests that dietary calcium may play a role in the regulation of body weight in humans. This study examined the relationship of calcium intake with body mass index and body fatness in Thai children. Methods: A cross-sectional study in 1570, 6 - 12 year-old child- ren were conducted in representative provinces of Thailand. Bod...

Childhood obesity is related to low physical activity level and a sedentary lifestyle. The aim of this study was to assess the physical activity level and sedentary behaviour of Malaysian children aged 7 to 12 years and to examine their association with body mass index (BMI), BMI-for-age Z-score (BAZ), body fatness (%BF) and waist circumference (WC...

To examine the limits of agreement of percent body fat (%BF) assessed by different compartment models (2C and 3C compared to 4C). Fifty-one healthy Thai adolescents (25 males and 26 females) aged 16 to 19 years volunteered in the present study. Underwater weighing (UWW) and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) were used for measurement of %BF fo...

Nutrition is an important factor in mental development and, as a consequence, in cognitive performance. Malnutrition is reflected in children's weight, height and BMI curves. The present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the association between anthropometric indices and cognitive performance in 6746 school-aged children (aged 6–12 years) of...

The Vietnamese South East Asian Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS), a cross-sectional study, was undertaken to assess the nutritional status in a nationally representative sample of children aged 0·5–11·9 years. A multi-stage cluster-randomised sampling method was used to recruit 2872 children. Anthropometric measurements included weight, height, mid-upper...

Nutrition is a well-known factor in the growth, health and development of children. It is also acknowledged that worldwide many people have dietary imbalances resulting in over-or undernutrition. In 2009, the multinational food company FrieslandCampina initiated the South East Asian Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS), a combination of surveys carried out i...

In developing countries, overweight prevalence is increasing while underweight prevalence is still high. This situation is known as the double nutrition burden. Both underweight and overweight are related to increased risk of chronic non-communicable diseases, reduced well-being and quality of life. This study aims to compare the prevalence of over...

Samenvatting ‘Vorig jaar waren er voor het eerst in de wereldgeschiedenis evenveel mensen met overgewicht als mensen met ondervoeding’. Eén zinnetje uit de omvangrijke Nota Overgewicht van de ministers Klink en Rouvoet en staatssecretaris Bussemaker .1 Eén zinnetje dat meteen de eerste oorzaak van het probleem onthult. Evolutionair is de mens succe...

The first part of this chapter briefly describes changes in body composition with age, focusing mainly on the elderly. In the second part a description of body composition methodology is given, describing body composition at five different levels (atomic, molecular, cellular, tissue and whole body) and describing a few methodologies that are of spe...

The proportion of fat-free mass (FFM) as body cell mass (BCM) is highly related to whole body resting energy expenditure. However, the magnitude of BCM/FFM may have been underestimated in previous studies. This is because Moore's equation [BCM (kg) = 0.00833 x total body potassium (in mmol)], which was used to predict BCM, underestimates BCM by app...

BIA is easy, non-invasive, relatively inexpensive and can be performed in almost any subject because it is portable. Part II of these ESPEN guidelines reports results for fat-free mass (FFM), body fat (BF), body cell mass (BCM), total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW) and intracellular water (ICW) from various studies in healthy and ill s...

The use of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is widespread both in healthy subjects and patients, but suffers from a lack of standardized method and quality control procedures. BIA allows the determination of the fat-free mass (FFM) and total body water (TBW) in subjects without significant fluid and electrolyte abnormalities, when using appro...

THE INFLUENCE OF BREAST COMPARED TO FORMULA FEEDING ON INFANT ADIPOSITY We compared growth, skin-fold measurements and fat mass in breast-fed (BF, n=21) versus formula-fed (FF, n=14) full-term infants from birth until 6 months of age. The BF group was exclusively breastfed up to 2 months of age, while the FF group was predominantly or exclusively...

P1066 THE INFLUENCE OF BREAST COMPARED TO FORMULA FEEDING ON INFANT ADIPOSITY Ng, Steven C. Y.1; Myo, Z. M.1; Chong, Y. S.2; Rauff, M.3; Nurfarah, C.3; Deurenberg, P. R. M.4Author Information 1Neonatology, Children’s Medical Institute, National University Hospital,2Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital,3Obstetrics and Gynaecology...

A WHO expert consultation addressed the debate about interpretation of recommended body-mass index (BMI) cut-off points for determining overweight and obesity in Asian populations, and considered whether population-specific cut-off points for BMI are necessary. They reviewed scientific evidence that suggests that Asian populations have different as...

A WHO expert consultation addressed the debate about interpretation of recommended body-mass index (BMI) cut-off points for determining overweight and obesity in Asian populations, and considered whether population-specific cut-off points for BMI are necessary. They reviewed scientific evidence that suggests that Asian populations have different as...

The use of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is widespread both in healthy subjects and patients, but suffers from a lack of standardized method and quality control procedures. BIA allows the determination of the fat-free mass (FFM) and total body water (TBW) in subjects without significant fluid and electrolyte abnormalities, when using appro...

THE INFLUENCE OF BREAST COMPARED TO FORMULA FEEDING ON INFANT ADIPOSITY – A PROSPECTIVE PILOT STUDY. We compared growth, skin-fold measurements and fat mass in breast-fed (BF, n=21) versus formula-fed(FF, n=14) full-term infants from birth until 6 months of age. The BF group was exclusively breastfed up to 2 months of age, while the FF group was pr...

Most in vivo body composition methods rely on assumptions that may vary among different population groups as well as within the same population group. The assumptions are based on in vitro body composition (carcass) analyses. The majority of body composition studies were performed on Caucasians and much of the information on validity methods and as...

The aim of the study was a comparison between body fat measurements and body mass index. We analyzed the data of 890 subjects, 596 females and 294 males, ranging in age from 18 to 83 years, in body mass index (BMI) from 14 to 54 kg/m2, and in body fat percentage (BF%) from 4% to 57%. A considerable number of subjects, both males and females, could...

This paper describes body composition and dietary intakes of the three major ethnic groups residing in Singapore and how these are related to cardiovascular risk factors in these groups. When the relationship between body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and body fat percentage was studied, Singaporeans were found to have higher percentage of body fat compa...

To compare the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BF%) in children of different ethnic background. Cross-sectional observational study. The study was performed in three different locations, Singapore, Beijing and Wageningen (The Netherlands). In each centre 25 boys and 25 girls, aged 7-12 y, were selected. They were...

Body composition methods can be classified into direct, indirect and doubly indirect methods. In vivo direct methods use neutron activation analysis to get information on body composition. Indirect methods rely on rules and constants derived from direct methods. Most basic research, especially the development of rules and models has been done in Ca...

Data on weight, height and skinfold thickness (biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac) of 101 Singaporean Chinese adolescents (49 girls and 52 boys), aged 16-18 years, were compared with data of Dutch Caucasians (52 girls, 37 boys) of the same age. Age did not differ between the sexes in each ethnic group or between the ethnic groups within ea...

Body composition information on humans can be collected at various levels, such as atomic, molecular, cellular, tissue, or whole-body level (1). In the case of obesity, the main component of interest is body fat, at the tissue [adipose tissue obtained by computer tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning] or molecular level [body...

Body fat percent (BF%) was measured in 108 adult Chinese, 76 Malays, and 107 Indians in Singapore by densitometry, deuterium oxide dilution (hydrometry), dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and a chemical four-compartment model (BF%4c). The hydration of the fat-free mass (FFM) was calculated. Subjects ranged in age from 18 to 69 years and their...

The objective was to study the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body fat per cent (BF%) in different population groups of Asians. The study design was a literature overview with special attention to recent Asian data. Specific information is provided on Indonesians (Malays and Chinese ancestry), Singaporean Chinese, Malays and Indians...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BF%) in Singaporean Chinese, Malays and Indians, and to determine the risk for selected comorbidities at various BMI categories and abdominal fat distributions, as assessed by waist circumference (WC). The study was a cross-sectional (po...

To test the impact of body build factors on the validity of impedance-based body composition predictions across (ethnic) population groups and to study the suitability of segmental impedance measurements. Cross-sectional observational study. Ministry of Health and School of Physical Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A total of...

Body fat percentage (BF%) was measured in 298 Singaporean Chinese, Malay and Indian men and women using a chemical four-compartment model consisting of fat, water, protein and mineral (BF%4C). In addition, weight, height, skinfold thickness and segmental impedance (from hand to hand) was measured. Body fat percentage was predicted using prediction...

To investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) and body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) on the cardiovascular risk factor profile of the three major ethnic groups in Singapore (Chinese, Malay and Indian people) and to determine if WHO recommended cut-off values for BMI and WHR are appropriate for the different sub-popul...

To test and compare the validity of a body mass index (BMI)-based prediction equation and an impedance-based prediction equation for body fat percentage among various European population groups. Cross-sectional observational study. The study was performed in five different European centres: Maastricht and Wageningen (The Netherlands), Milan and Rom...

Body-composition methodologies rely on assumptions that are not constant across ethnic groups. The consequence is that the methods used need to be population specific to guarantee unbiased conclusions. Alternatively, assumption-free methods such as chemical multiple-compartment models or scanning techniques should be used. Adequate and unbiased sci...

This cross-sectional study compared body fat percentage (BF%) obtained from a four-compartment (4C) model with BF% from hydrometry (using 2H2O), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and densitometry among the three main ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays and Indians) in Singapore, and determined the suitability of two-compartment (2C) models as surro...

To determine the resting metabolic rate in a sample of the Italian population, and to evaluate the validity of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate (RMR) from the literature in normal and obese subjects. Cross-sectional observational study. Department of Human Physiology and Nutrition, University 'Tor Vergata', Rome. A total of 320 healt...

Total body bioelectrical impedance is a measure for total body water. From total body water the fat free mass and, by difference with body weight, the fat mass (body fat percent) can be calculated. Prediction formulas for body fat percent based on impedance assume a constant hydration of the fat free mass, an assumption that might be violated in in...

In Singapore, there exists differences in risk factors for coronary heart disease among the three main ethnic groups: Chinese, Malays and Indians. This study aimed to investigate if differences in dietary intakes of fat, types of fat, cholesterol, fruits, vegetables and grain foods could explain the differences in serum cholesterol levels between t...

The aim of this study was to assess the relative validity of a 159-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use among adult Singaporeans. This FFQ should be able to classify intakes of energy, total fat, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat and cholesterol into quintiles of intakes for purposes of epidemiologi...

The objectives of this study were to obtain values for resting metabolic rate in Italians in relation to parameters of body composition, and to compare them to predicted values using the FAO/WHO/UNU equation. We performed a cross-sectional observational study of 131 healthy subjects (46 males and 85 females) at the Human Nutrition Unit, University...

To study the relationship between body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI) in three different ethnic groups in Singapore (Chinese, Malays and Indians) in order to evaluate the validity of the BMI cut-off points for obesity. Cross-sectional study. Two-hundred and ninety-one subjects, purposively selected to ensure adequate representation of ran...

Stunting is highly prevalent in Ethiopia and many other developing countries but the reason for it is poorly understood. Zinc is essential for growth but diets in such countries often do not contain zinc in sufficient quantity or of sufficient bioavailability. Thus zinc deficiency may play a major role in stunting. The aim of the study was to inves...

Body composition was measured in 205 male and female Beijing Chinese and in 148 male and female Singaporean Chinese, age 34 (mean) (range 18-68) years and body mass index (BMI) 22.3 (15.9-38.5) kg/m 2. In Beijing Siri's two-compartment model based on densitometry was used as a reference technique and in Singapore Siri's three-compartment model base...

Fat-free mass hydration, the ratio of total body water (TBW) to fat-free mass (FFM), is stable at approximately 0.73 in mammals, and this constancy provides a means of estimating total body fat in vivo. As there is no mechanistic theory to explain the magnitude and variability in TBW/FFM, the present investigation describes a cellular-level model i...

The effects of an episode of acute classical dengue fever on extracellular water (ECW), intracellular water (ICW), and total body water (TBW) were measured in nine patients using conventional dilution techniques; and the findings were compared with the outcome variables from whole body impedance spectroscopy (BIS), extracellular fluid resistance (R...

This study aimed to investigate to what extent cholesterol levels change in individuals in different age groups over an 18-year period. Factors that contribute to the changes, with respect to prevention of cardiovascular disease, were taken into account. In 1977 serum cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, body mass index, and smoking...

The body composition was measured in 30 female Singapore Chinese and 34 female Dutch Caucasians aged (mean +/- SD) 22.7 +/- 3.6 years and in 39 male Singapore Chinese and 39 male Dutch Caucasians aged 23.3 +/- 3.2 years. The body fat percentage (BF%) was measured using densitometry and deuterium oxide dilution as well as a chemical four-compartment...

In 205 Beijing male and female Chinese and in 148 Singapore male and female Chinese, age (mean  SD, range) 34  12 (18 - 68) years and body mass index (BMI) 22.3  3.5 (15.9 – 38.5) kg/m2 body composition was measured. In Beijing densitometry was used as a reference technique and in Singapore the reference technique was based on densitometry and d...

Body composition was measured in 205 male and female Beijing Chinese and in 148 male and female Singaporean Chinese, age 34 (mean) (range 18-68) years and body mass index (BMI) 22.3 (15.9-38.5) kg/m 2. In Beijing Siri's two-compartment model based on densitometry was used as a reference technique and in Singapore Siri's three-compartment model base...

The global prevalence of obesity, characterised by a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, is high and is increasing. Obesity is associated with a higher risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. In Singapore the prevalence of obesity differs among the three main ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays and Ind...

Background: Membrane fluidity is an important aspect of cellular physiology which may be manipulated by diet. Methods: We studied the effect of dietary fish oil on the membrane composition of erythrocytes and cheek cells, and on membrane fluidity of erythrocytes as assessed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Healthy volunteers re...

The objectives of the study were to determine regional changes in body composition, energy expenditure by means of doubly labeled water, and net energy balance during exposure to high and extreme altitudes (5,300-8,848 m). This study focuses on a subset of subjects who consumed the doubly labeled water (three base camp personnel and seven climbers)...

To study the relationship between body fat percent (BF%) and body mass index (BMI) in two different Indonesian ethnic groups (Malays and Chinese) and to relate differences in the relationship to differences in body build and slenderness. Cross-sectional study. Except for ethnicity, not specially selected populations living on Java (Depok, south of...

Water is an essential component of living organisms, and in adult mammals the fraction of fat-free body mass (FFM) as water is remarkably stable at approximately 0.73. The stability of FFM hydration is a cornerstone of the widely used water isotope dilution method of estimating total body fat. At present, the only suggested means of studying FFM hy...