The association between somatotype and nutritional status: a cross-sectional study among the adult Sabar males of Purulia, West Bengal, India

• Published in: International journal of anthropology and ethnology 2021-05, Vol.5 (1), p.1-16, Article 5
• Main Authors: Das, Kaustav, Mukherjee, Koel, Ganguli, Sayak, Pal, Somosree, Bagchi, Subrata Sankar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Anthropology; Body composition; Body mass index; Body shape; Chi-square test; Community living; Cross-sectional studies; Ectomorphy; Endomorphy; Ethnography; Males; Mesoporphy; Nutrition; Nutritional status; Sabar; Social Anthropology; Social Sciences; Somatotype; Structural Anthropology; Undernutrition
• ISSN: 2366-1003; 2366-1003
• DOI: 10.1186/s41257-021-00046-5

Somatotype is the parameter used to determine the body composition, which is influenced by several factors and nutrition is the crucial one. This study aimed to determine somatotype and nutritional status as well as investigate the somatotype variations in relation to the age and nutritional status among the adult males of Sabar community living in Purulia district of West Bengal, India. The present cross-sectional study included 334 Sabar males aged between 18 to 60 years. Anthropometric measurements including height, weight, 2 breadths, 2 circumferences and 4 skinfolds were taken following standard protocol. Somatotype was determined following the Heath-Carter method and Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to access the level of nutrition. Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation and Chi-square test were performed to find out variation, correlation and association of the somatype components with age and nutritional categories. Prior ethical clearance had been obtained. As a result, the trend of undernutrition was gradually increasing with age and found highest among aged people (50–60 years) with an overall prevalence of 49.7%. Eleven different somatotype subgroups were identified. The mean somatotype of the participants was 2.3–3.6-3.9 which indicates mesomorph-ectomorph body type. Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed significant differences among somatotype components in different nutritional categories. Undernutrition was found highest among the mesomorphic ectomorph (62.7%) type. Chi-square test stated significant association between somatotype categories and nutritional statuses (Chi-square = 283.160, p