Factors associated with the high body fat percentage in physically active individuals

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2021.48505

Keywords:

Physical exercise. Food consumption. Distribution of body fat. Body

Abstract

Introduction: Physical exercise is practiced with several objectives, especially the promotion of changes in body composition, with fat reduction and increase in lean mass. Thus, understanding the factors that may be associated with this modification becomes relevant. Objective: To analyze demographic, lifestyle, biochemical, dietary, and training factors associated with the percentage of body fat in practitioners of physical exercise in gyms. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study with 143 healthy physical exercise practitioners, of both sexes. Sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle were obtained through the application of a questionnaire. Food consumption was obtained through 24-hour food records, considering the averages of three days. Body composition was assessed using anthropometric assessment and the electrical bioimpedance test. The statistical analysis included the Shapiro Wilk test to verify normality, the chi-square and Fisher's exact test were used to assess the association between categorical variables and the response variable and the Mann-Whitney and Student t tests for the continuous variables. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to determine the associations between studied variables. Stata software version 14.0 was used for statistical analysis and a value of p <0.05 was adopted. Results: The prevalence of high body fat was 49.3% in men and 79.2% in women. The associated factors were the higher consumption of protein and fibers in women and the concentration of monocytes in men. Conclusion: Despite being a physically active public, a high percentage of fat was observed among the study participants and the associated factors reinforce the multi-etiological character of this indicator.

 

Published

2021-01-28

How to Cite

Silveira, V. N. da C., Silva, S. C. da, Padilha, L. L., Moreira, J. S. B., Martins, I. C. V. da S., Reis, A. D., … Veloso, H. J. F. (2021). Factors associated with the high body fat percentage in physically active individuals. DEMETRA: Food, Nutrition & Health, 16, e48505. https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2021.48505

Issue

Section

Clinical Nutrition