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Body size preference among Yoruba in three Nigerian communities

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Abstract

Following our previous observation of an aversion to weight reduction in Nigerians with type 2 diabetes, we measured several parameters of body dimensions and preferences in otherwise healthy adults in three communities to study the phenomenon further. The study population of 524 participants (304 F) was 99.8 % of Yoruba ethnic origin with a mean age of 43.9 ± 17.2 years. Females had a significantly (p > 0.001) higher body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference compared to the males; the values being 24.55 ± 5.5 vs. 21.75 ± 3.71 kg/m2; 84.98 ± 12.67 vs. 80.92 ± 9.85 cm; 96.32 ± 12.94 vs. 89.36 ± 8.06 cm, respectively. There was a high level of satisfaction amongst respondents with their body size (Kendall’s t = 0.52, p < 0.001) which they also predicted with a high degree of certainty even without the prior use of a weighing scale. The relationship between current body size (CBI) and BMI emerged as CBI = 1.22 + 0.32 BMI. In the 41 % of respondents who expressed unhappiness with their current body size, there was a strong aversion for a smaller body size and the preference was often for a bigger body figure. Strikingly, many more women than men were less dissatisfied with their bigger body sizes. Stepwise regression indicated that CBI and gender were the two most important variables that best related to casual blood sugar (RBS) among the factors entered. The mathematical relationship between these variables that emerged was:

$$ \begin{aligned} {\text{RBS }} = & \, 3.21 \, + \, 0.46\;{\text{gender }} + \, 0.15\;{\text{CBI}}.\quad R^{2} = \, 0.07,\;p < 0.001 \\ & (0.19)\quad \quad (0.09)\quad \quad \quad (0.04) \\ & \left( {{\text{values in bracket represent SE for the coefficient}} .} \right) \\ \end{aligned} $$

where gender = 0 for male and 1 for female. The results suggest that larger body sizes were positively viewed in these communities consistent with our previous observations in type 2 diabetes.

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Acknowledgments

The study was financed in part by self-contributions by the investigators themselves and by a small grant from the management of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. We acknowledge with gratitude the Community leaders and volunteers for their sacrifice of time. Olatunji D.A. prepared the typescript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hypertension, Diabetes and Therapeutics, Department of Medicine, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria

    E. O. Okoro & H. Sholagberu

  2. Department of Statistics, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria

    B. A. Oyejola

  3. Department of Medicines, University of Ilorin, P.M.B 1515, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria

    E. O. Okoro, P. M. Kolo & A. Chijioke

  4. Department of Chemical Pathology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria

    S. A. Adebisi

  5. Department of Histopathology, Niger Delta University, Wiberforce-Island, Bayelsa, Nigeria

    E. N. Etebu

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  1. E. O. Okoro
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  2. B. A. Oyejola
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  3. E. N. Etebu
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  4. H. Sholagberu
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Correspondence to E. O. Okoro.

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Okoro, E.O., Oyejola, B.A., Etebu, E.N. et al. Body size preference among Yoruba in three Nigerian communities. Eat Weight Disord 19, 77–88 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-013-0060-9

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