Food & Nutrition

Arab Journal of Food & Nutrition
36. The Relation between Body Fat, Blood Pressure and Blood Glucose in an
Elderly Group of Men in Jordan with Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
Using Anthropometric and Biochemical Indicators (1999)
Nasser Fakhri Al Balas\ University of Jordan
Supervisor: Dr. Khader El Masri
This research aims at the study of the correlations between anthropometric
indicators, nutrient intakes and subcutaneous fat with blood pressure, blood glucose
and blood lipids in a non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) Jordanian
group. For this purpose, 80 diabetic elderly men with type II diabetes with a mean age
of 64.4 ranging from 60-75 years were chosen. The patients were identified: group I (n
= 20) were not taking any hypoglycemic agents and group II (n= 40) were taking
hypoglycemic agents. The remaining 20 patient dropped out.
Correlations between various anthropomeiric indicators including body mass
index (BMI) with blood glucose, blood pressure and various blood lipids were
determined for the two groups combined.
It was found that, there is significant positive correlation between total blood
cholesterol with body weight, circumferences of chest, abdomen, waist, hip (r=0.47,
0.4 1, 0.44, 0.42,0. 52, p< 0.001) respectively and skinfold thickness of biceps (r =
0.34, p < 0.01). However, it was found a significant negative correlation between high
density Lipoprotein with body weight, circumferences of abdomen, waist, hip and
skinfold thickness of abdomen (r=-0.29, -0.26, -0.28, -0.25, -0.29, p < 0.05)
respectively.
Blood triglyceride, on the other hand, were significantly correlated with only
weight, circumferences of waist, hip and abdomen (r = 0.58, 0.67, 0.62, p < 0.001)
respectively. Systolic blood pressure was significantly correlated with chest
circumferences (r = 0.30, p < 0 05), cholesterol (r = 0.28, p