Body composition of New Zealand-born term babies differs by ethnicity, gestational age and sex

• Published in: Early human development Vol. 140; p. 104924
• Main Authors: Alexander, T., Conlon, C.A., Gamble, G., von Hurst, P.R., van Dorp, L., Ichhpuniani, B., Housh, R., Ke, P., Bloomfield, F.H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Air displacement plethysmography; Fat-free mass index; Metabolic risk; Māori; Thin-fat phenotype; Māori; Fat-free mass index; E; Air displacement plethysmography; FM; GLM; FFM; Asian; SD; PI/M; UK; Metabolic risk; FFMI; Thin-fat phenotype
• DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2019.104924
• ISSN: 0378-3782

Body composition provides important information on nutrition and future metabolic risk. New Zealand has a diverse ethnic population for which there are no newborn body composition data. To determine body composition in a cohort of New Zealand-born term babies. Observational study. Healthy, term infants between 37+0 and 41+6 weeks' gestation in two hospitals in Auckland, New Zealand. Body composition by air displacement plethysmography and anthropometry measured within 5 days of birth. Parent-identified ethnicity was prioritised according to Ministry of Health criteria. Data were analysed using t-test, ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc tests, quantile regression and are mean(SD). 440 babies (54% male) were included. Pacific Island/Māori (PI/M) were heavier at birth than Asian/Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (Asian+) babies (3403(506) vs 3181(485) g, p < .05). PI/M and European (E) babies were longer with larger head and waist circumferences than Asian+ babies (all p < .05). Absolute fat mass (FM) was not different amongst ethnicities (E, 365(156), PI/M, 347(183), Asian+, 357(188) g) but PI/M babies had significantly lower FM% than Asian+ (9.8(4.3) vs 10.9(4.5) %, p < .05). Fat-free mass (FFM) was greater in PI/M (3056(400) g) than E (2952(345) g (p < .05) and both PI/M and E had greater FFM than Asian+ (2824(363) g, p < .05). Early term babies had less FFM than term and late-term babies (2732(370), 3012(352), 3173(302)g, p < .001) respectively. Asian+ babies were the smallest babies with the least FFM yet had similar FM and the highest FM%, indicative of a thin, fat phenotype from birth. •Absolute fat mass was similar across ethnicities.•Asian+ babies had the highest % fat mass and the lowest fat-free mass, consistent with a thin-fat phenotype.•Pacific Island and Māori babies have more fat-free mass.•Increasing gestational age results in higher birth weight primarily due to increased fat-free mass.