Comparison of growth patterns of subcutaneous fat tissue in Mexican and Polish with US and Peruvian populations

Abstract

SummaryThe development of subcutaneous fat tissue in the US was found to follow the following stages: preschool loss, prepubertal gain, adolescent loss, stabilization, adult gain, and after top fatness, age loss. 1208 subjects 2–80 years old were studied in Maya a mixed population from Merida and Progreso (Yucatan, Mexico) measuring two fatfolds. A population of 7924 from Polish towns and villages was chosen measuring 10 fatfolds. The same pattern of fatfolds growth was found in different ethnic groups, except level of thickness and age at turning points. Adolescent loss is characteristic only for boys, and stabilization for girls. The pattern was clearly expressed in females but was only slightly marked in Yucatan males and in Poles. Data was compared for triceps fatfold, and also for the summation of several fatfolds, sometimes different in the studied populations (from 2 to 10 sites was measured). Preschool loss was mainly found at 2–5 years of age, prepubertal gain at 7–10 years, adolescent loss in boys at 11–15 years, stabilization in girls at 15–20 years, adult gain at 17–45 years, top fatness in various populations occurred between 45 and 55 years of age and next age loss was observed. Most scanty fat tissue occurred in the Peru Nunoa population, next in the Poles and white and black Americans, fat tissues became more abundant in the Mexican American and Puerto Rican, and was most abundant in the Yucatecan population. US black females have thicker fatfold than white, but white males thicker than black. Differences in amount of fat tissue are probably related to nutritional levels (quantity) and habits (quality).