Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Assessment of abdominal fat development in young adolescents using magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the patterns of change and the best anthropometric indicators of intra-abdominal fat deposition in young adolescents from ages 11–13 y.

SUBJECTS: Subjects were 25 boys (mean age 13.7±0.32 y) and 17 girls (mean age of 13.7±0.23 y) who had taken part in a similar study 2 y earlier at ages 11.5±0.33 y and 11.5±0.27 y, respectively.

METHODS: Intra-abdominal (IA) and subcutaneous adipose (SA) tissue areas and IA/SA ratio were determined through four tranverse magnetic resonance imaging scans on two occasions. Differences were investigated using t-tests and ANOVA. Skinfolds, girths and circumferences, body mass index and hydrostatic weighing were also recorded. Pearson correlation coefficients and regression equations were calculated to determine the best anthropometric indicators of intra-abdominal fat deposition.

RESULTS: Intra-abdominal fat and subcutaneous fat areas had significantly increased in boys and girls by the second measure. Boys had deposited greater amounts of fat in intra-abdominal depots so that their intra-abdominal/subcutaneous ratio had increased significantly from 0.31 to 0.39. This had reduced in girls from 0.39 to 0.35. However, patterns of change were variable within sexes. Truncal skinfold sites (r=0.54–0.70) emerged as the best field indicators of intra-abdominal fat deposition.

CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat distribution are identifiable in pubescent children using magnetic resonance imaging. An acceptable indication is provided by truncal skinfolds.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Ashwell M, Cole TJ, Dixon AK . Obesity: a new insight into the anthropometric classification of fat distribution shown by computed tomography Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1985 290: 1692–1694.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Després J-P, Moorjani S, Lupien PJ, Tremblay A, Nadeau A, Bouchard C . Regional distribution of body fat, plasma lipoproteins, and cardiovascular disease Arteriosclerosis 1990 10: 497–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Brambilla P, Manzoni P, Sironi S, Simone P, Del Maschio A, Di Natale B, Chiumello G . Peripheral and abdominal adiposity in childhood obesity Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1994 18: 795–800.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Caprio S, Hyman LD, McCarthy S, Lange R, Bronson M, Tamborlane WV . Fat distribution and cardiovascular risk factors in obese adolescent girls: importance of the intra-abdominal fat depot Am J Clin Nutr 1996 64: 12–17.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ross R, Rissanen J, Pedwell H, Clifford J, Shragge P . Influence of diet and exercise on skeletal muscle visceral adipose tissue in men J Appl Physiol 1996 81: 2445–2455.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Goran MI, Kaskoun MC, Shuman WP . Intra-abdominal adipose tissue in young children Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1995 19: 279–283.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Goran MI, Nagy TR, Treuth MT, Trowbridge C, Dezenberg C, McGloin A, Gower BA . Visceral fat in Caucasian and African‐American pre-pubertal children Am J Clin Nutr 1997 65: 1703–1708.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Goran MI, Gower BA, Treuth M, Nagy TR . Prediction of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue in healthy prepubertal children Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1998 22: 549–558.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Fox KR, Peters DM, Armstrong N, Sharpe P, Bell M . Abdominal fat deposition in 11-year-old children Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1993 17: 11–16.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Peters DM, Fox KR, Armstrong N, Sharpe P, Bell M . Estimation of body fat and body fat distribution in 11-year-old children using magnetic resonance imaging and hydrostatic weighing, skinfolds and anthropometry Am J Hum Biol 1994 6: 237–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. De Ridder CM, de Boer RW, Seidell JC, Nieuwenhoff CM, Jeneson JAL, Bakker CJG, Zonderland ML, Erich WBM . Body fat distribution in pubertal girls quantified by magnetic resonance imaging Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1992 16: 443–449.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Dooms GC, Hricak H, Margulis AR, de Greer G . MR imaging of fat Radiology 1986 158: 51–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Ross R, Leger L, Morris D, de Guise J, Guardo R . Quantification of adipose tissue by MRI: relationship with anthropometric variables J Appl Physiol 1992 72: 787–795.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Ross R, Shaw KD, Martel Y, de Guise J, Avruch L . Adipose tissue distribution measured by magnetic resonance imaging in obese women Am J Clin Nutr 1993 57: 470–475.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Lohman TG, Roche AF, Martorell R (eds) . Anthropometric Standards Reference Manual Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Slaughter MH, Lohman TG, Boileau RA, Horswill CA, Stillman RJ, van Loan MD, Membden DA . Skinfold equations for estimation of body fatness in children and youth Hum Biol 1988 60: 709–723.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Tanner JM . Growth at Adolescence, 2nd Edn. Blackwell Scientific: Oxford 1962.

  18. SPSS for Windows Release 9.0 SPSS Inc.: Chicago, IL 1998.

  19. Cole TJ, Freeman JV, Preece MA . Body mass index reference curves for the UK, 1990 Arch Dis Child 1995 73: 25–29.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Gillum RF . Distribution of waist-to-hip ratio, other indices of body fat distribution and obesity and associations with HDL cholesterol in children and young adults aged 4–19 y: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999 23: 556–563.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to KR Fox.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fox, K., Peters, D., Sharpe, P. et al. Assessment of abdominal fat development in young adolescents using magnetic resonance imaging. Int J Obes 24, 1653–1659 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801464

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801464

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links