Prevalence of Obesity among Immigrants Living in Canada

Abstract

Canadian who were living in Toronto for the past fifteen years after migrating from their own countries and maintaining their own traditional food habits, were studied for their adiposity and body composition. Body composition was analyzed by bio-impedance method using bioelectrical body composition analyzer and BMI was calculated by standard method. Average age, height, weight, fat % and BMI for the males were 34.2 yr (± 12.3), 175.8 cm (± 8.2), 85.5 kg (± 17.5), 23.6 % (± 7.4) and 27.6 kg.m 2 (± 5.2) respectively whereas those for their female counterparts were 30.9 yr (± 11.3), 163.7 cm (± 6.5), 71.1 kg (± 17.1), 31.8 % (± 8.2) and 26.5 kg.m -2 (± 5.9) respectively. A wide range of Fat % were observed in both male and female Canadians which were 7.3% - 50.0% for male and 8.5 %-52.6% for female. Similar wide ranges were also observed in BMI where males had a range of 14.6 kg.m -2 - 48.5 kg.m -2 and female had 15.2 kg.m -2 and 50.2 kg.m -2 . In males, 66.12 % were in overweight category, out of which 38.74% were in pre-obese and 27.38% were in obese group. Similarly, in females, 52.72% were in overweight category, out of which 30.96% were in pre-obese category and 21.75% were in obese category. High adiposity was also observed both in males and females. The reason might be due to their life style and food habit.