METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: This study had two phases: a cross-sectional growth study of under-five Orang Asli children (N=304; Phase 1) and a 2-year prospective cohort growth study of Orang Asli children aged 0-3 years (N=214; Phase 2) in the Temerloh district of Pahang, Malaysia. Weight-for-age, length/height-for-age, weight-for-length/height, and body mass index-for-age were determined.
RESULTS: The prevalence rates of stunting, underweight, wasting, and thinness in under-five Orang Asli children (Phase 1) were 64%, 49%, 14%, and 12%, respectively. In the cohort of 214 children (Phase 2), weight-for-age was initially documented and maintained closely at -1.50 standard deviations (SD) in the first 6 months, but it declined to approximately -2.00 SD at 15 months and remained close to -2.00 SD thereafter. Length/height-for-age declined rapidly to approximately -2.50 SD at 18 months and fluctuated between -2.30 and -2.50 SD thereafter. Weight-for-length/height increased sharply to -0.40 SD at 2-3 months, declined gradually to less than -1.00 SD at 12 months, and plateaued between -1.00 and -1.30 SD thereafter.
CONCLUSIONS: Undernutrition is prevalent among Orang Asli children, with length rather than weight faltering being more pronounced in the first 2 years of life. Identifying the causes of early growth retardation in this population is required to inform future preventive strategies.
METHODS: This is a follow-up study among 84 obese housewives without co-morbidities aged 18 to 59 years old who previously participated as a control group (delayed intervention, G1) in the My Body is Fit and Fabulous at Home (MyBFF@home) Phase II. Baseline data were obtained from 12 month data collection for this group. A new group of 42 obese housewives with co-morbidities (G2) were also recruited. Both groups received a 6 month intervention (July-December 2015) consisting of dietary counselling, physical activity (PA) and self-monitoring tools (PA diary, food diary and pedometer). Study parameters included weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure and body compositions. Body compositions were measured using a bioelectrical impedance analysis device, Inbody 720. Descriptive and repeated measures ANOVA analyses were performed using SPSS 21.
RESULTS: There were reductions in mean body fat, fat mass and visceral fat area, particularly among obese women without co-morbidities. There were also decreases fat and skeletal muscle from baseline to month six with mean difference - 0.12 (95% CI: -0.38, 0.14) and visceral fat area from month three to month six with mean difference - 9.22 (- 17.87, - 0.56) for G1. G2 showed a decreasing pattern of skeletal muscle from baseline to month six with mean difference - 0.01(95% CI: -0.38, 0.37). There was a significant difference for group effect of visceral fat area (p Weight management efforts are therefore not as straightforward in those with co-morbidities compared to those without, and require thorough and tailor-made strategies for a better chance of success.
DISCUSSION: The MyBFF@home (Phase II) was a quasi-experimental study and it was conducted among overweight and obese housewives living in the urban areas in Malaysia. In this phase, the study involved a weight loss intervention phase (6 months) and a weight loss maintenance phase (6 months). The intervention group received a standard weight loss intervention package and the control group received group seminars related to women's health. Measurements of weight, height, waist circumference, body composition, fasting blood lipids, dietary intake, physical activity, health literacy, body pain and quality of life were conducted during the study. Overweight and obese housewives from 14 People's Housing/Home Project (PHP) in Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (Klang Valley) were selected as control and intervention group (N = 328). Majority of the participants (76.1%) were from the low socioeconomic group. Data were analysed and presented according to the specific objectives and the needs for the particular topic in the present supplement report.
CONCLUSION: MyBFF@home is the first and the largest community-based weight loss intervention study which was conducted among overweight and obese housewives in Malaysia. Findings of the study could be used by the policy makers and the researchers to enhance the obesity intervention programme among female adults in Malaysia.
RESULTS: Our results demonstrate genetic control for FCR in tilapia, with a heritability estimate of 0.32 ± 0.11. Response to selection estimates showed FCR could be efficiently improved by selective breeding. Due to low genetic correlations, selection for growth traits would not improve FCR. However, weight loss at fasting has a high genetic correlation with FCR (0.80 ± 0.25) and a moderate heritability (0.23), and could be an easy to measure and efficient criterion to improve FCR by selective breeding in tilapia.
CONCLUSION: At this age, FCR is genetically determined in Nile tilapia. A selective breeding program could be possible and could help enabling the development of a more sustainable aquaculture production.
AIMS: (1) To investigate the association between birth weight and anthropometric measurements during adulthood; (2) to study the genetic and environmental influences on body measures including birth weight, weight and height among twins; and (3) to assess the variation in heritability versus environment among two cohorts of twins who lived in different geographical areas.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twins were collected from two twin registers. Data on birth weight, adult weight and height in 430 MZ and 170 DZ twins living in two geographically distinct parts of the world were collected. A genetic analysis was performed using MX software.
RESULTS: Birth weight was associated with weight, height and BMI. Both MZ and DZ twins with low birth weight had shorter height during their adult life (p = 0.001), but only MZ twins with lower birth weight were lighter at adulthood (p = 0.001). Intra-pair differences in birth weight were not associated with differences in adult height (p = 0.366) or weight (p = 0.796). Additive genetic effects accounted for 53% of the variance in weight, 43% in height and 55% in birth weight. The remaining variance was attributed to unique environmental effects (15% for weight, 13% for height and 45% for birth weight and only 16% for BMI). Variability was found to be different in the two cohorts. The best fitting model for birth weight and BMI was additive genetic and non-shared environment and for weight and height was additive genetic, non-shared environment (plus common Environment).
CONCLUSIONS: Data suggests that the association between weight at birth and anthropometric measures in later life is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Living in different environments can potentially relate to variation found in the environment.
DESIGN: Body weight and length/height were measured. The LMS method was used for calculating smoothened body-weight- and BMI-for-age percentile values. The standardized site effect (SSE) values were used for identifying large differences (i.e. $\left| {{\rm SSE}} \right|$ >0·5) between the pooled SEANUTS sample and the remaining pooled SEANUTS samples after excluding one single country each time, as well as with WHO growth references.
SETTING: Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
SUBJECTS: Data from 14 202 eligible children.
RESULTS: The SSE derived from the comparisons of the percentile values between the pooled and the remaining pooled SEANUTS samples were indicative of small/acceptable (i.e. $\left| {{\rm SSE}} \right|$ ≤0·5) differences. In contrast, the comparisons of the pooled SEANUTS sample with WHO revealed large differences in certain percentiles.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study support the use of percentile values derived from the pooled SEANUTS sample for evaluating the weight status of children in each SEANUTS country. Nevertheless, large differences were observed in certain percentiles values when SEANUTS and WHO reference values were compared.
METHODS: Using a cross-sectional study design, body weight and height were measured, and BMI was calculated and classified using WHO BMI-for-age Z-score. Data was obtained using the National Fitness Standard (SEGAK) assessment, which was uploaded in a specific Health Monitoring System (HEMS).
RESULTS: From a total of 62,567 school adolescents, 50.7% were boys and 49.3% were girls. Girls had significantly higher BMI than boys in age groups of 13 to 15 and 16 to 17 years old. Among boys and girls, there were significant differences in mean BMI of school adolescents between rural and urban school locations in all age groups (p
METHODS: Forty-eight Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups of eight rats each: (A) Sham operated; control (B) Untreated (ovariectomised (OVX) with vehicle), (C) PEL 100 (OVX + 100 mg/kg body weight (bw)), (D) PEL 300 (OVX + 300 mg/kg bw), (E) PEL 500 (OVX + 500 mg/kg bw) and (F) Positive control, testosterone undecanoate (TU) (OVX+ 10 mg/kg bw). Group A and B received daily oral administrations of the vehicle, Group C-E received daily oral administration of PEL and Group F received testosterone undecanoate intramuscularly weekly. At the end of 8 weeks, serum calcium, phosphate, bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), osteocalcin, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone were measured, then the animals were sacrificed and uterus was isolated, while weight was recorded in all experimental groups.
RESULTS: Treatment of OVX rats with PEL at a dose of 500 mg/kg showed decreased serum FSH (P weight in the ovariectomised rats, which was alleviated in all PEL treated ovariectomised rats with an increasing trend of uterine weight.
CONCLUSION: The results suggest that PEL could be protective and beneficial for the management of reproductive hormone and bone markers. Therefore, it could be used to address hormonal imbalances and symptoms associated with menopause.
METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 255 overweight and obesity individuals aged between 18 to 59 years old were assigned to either the lifestyle intervention group (n = 169) or the usual care group (n = 146) over a period of 6 months. Individuals in the intervention group received 6 individual lifestyle counselling comprised of physical activity, diet counselling and self-monitoring components aimed to achieve at least 5% weight loss while individuals in the usual care group obtained six sessions of health care seminars from health care providers. These individuals were then followed-up for another 6 months without any intervention as part of maintenance period.
RESULTS: An intention-to-treat analysis of between-groups at 6-month of intervention (β, 95% CI) revealed greater changes in weight among intervention individuals' (- 1.09 kg vs. -0.99; p 0.05). Individuals in the intervention group showed a significant increase for skeletal muscle mass (0.13 kg) than those individuals in the control group (- 0.37 kg), p = 0.033, throughout the study period.
CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that an overweight and obesity prevention program can be implemented in a community setting, with some reduction of several anthropometric and body composition parameters.
METHODS: This study includes 373,293 men and women, 25-70 years old, recruited between 1992 and 2000 from 10 European countries in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Habitual intake of nuts including peanuts, together defined as nut intake, was estimated from country-specific validated dietary questionnaires. Body weight was measured at recruitment and self-reported 5 years later. The association between nut intake and body weight change was estimated using multilevel mixed linear regression models with center/country as random effect and nut intake and relevant confounders as fixed effects. The relative risk (RR) of becoming overweight or obese after 5 years was investigated using multivariate Poisson regressions stratified according to baseline body mass index (BMI).
RESULTS: On average, study participants gained 2.1 kg (SD 5.0 kg) over 5 years. Compared to non-consumers, subjects in the highest quartile of nut intake had less weight gain over 5 years (-0.07 kg; 95% CI -0.12 to -0.02) (P trend = 0.025) and had 5% lower risk of becoming overweight (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.92-0.98) or obese (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.90-0.99) (both P trend <0.008).
CONCLUSIONS: Higher intake of nuts is associated with reduced weight gain and a lower risk of becoming overweight or obese.