Aerobic Capacity of Modernizing Samoan Men

Maximal exercise tests were given to 34 American Samoan men between the ages of 18 and 30 years. The sample included men who performed traditional bush-fallow agriculture and men who were employed in a wage economy as office employees and manual laborers. Aerobic capacity, or VO₂max(ml/kg/min), of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human biology 1982-12, Vol.54 (4), p.777-788
Main Authors: Greksa, Lawrence P., Baker, Paul T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adipose Tissue - physiology
Adolescent
Adult
Age
Age groups
Agriculture
Anthropometry
Arm
Heart rate
Humans
Independent State of Samoa
Male
Manual labor
Occupations
Oxygen
Oxygen Consumption
Physical Exertion
Physical fitness
Regression analysis
Skinfold Thickness
Stress tests
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Summary:Maximal exercise tests were given to 34 American Samoan men between the ages of 18 and 30 years. The sample included men who performed traditional bush-fallow agriculture and men who were employed in a wage economy as office employees and manual laborers. Aerobic capacity, or VO₂max(ml/kg/min), of the total sample was very low, 38.9 ml/kg/min, suggesting that these men had a low level of physical fitness. Also, aerobic capacity was negatively related to body fatness as measured by the sum of the skinfolds and positively related to activity level as measured by occupational energetic requirements. Since modernization in American Samoa is associated with increases in body fatness and decreases in occupational activity level, these findings suggest that changes associated with modernization have had a significant negative impact on the aerobic capacity of modernizing Samoan adult males.
ISSN:0018-7143
1534-6617