Ghosh Sudipta
Department of Anthropology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, 793022, India.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2022 Oct;76(10):1423-1431. doi: 10.1038/s41430-022-01121-6. Epub 2022 Mar 28.
The present paper is an attempt to understand ethnic variations in the association of dietary intake with body composition in two geographically and genetically diverse adult populations, i.e., Santhal, an indigenous group from the plain regions of eastern India and Monpa, an indigenous population from the high-altitude regions of north-eastern India.
A total number of 200 adult Monpa and 204 adult Santhal were recruited for the present investigation, which was conducted in phases. Multiple and multivariate regression frameworks were used in the paper to evaluate the influence of dietary intake on body composition.
In somatotype, the Santhal were found to be predominantly mesomorphic, whereas the Monpa were predominantly endomorphic, irrespective of their gender. Similarly, significantly (p < 0.001) greater percentages of overweight and obese individuals were found among the Monpa, but not among the Santhal.
Despite the fact that both these tribes are engaged in primitive technology-based agriculture that requires a lot of physical labour, such difference in their body composition could be due to fundamental differences in the physical environment and great dietary/nutritional intake. In fact, it was found that Monpa follow a daily diet that is highly rich in dairy fat and animal protein, as compared to their counterpart Santhal. Santhal's daily diet generally consists of rice and boil vegetables, with protein consumption as low as once or twice a month. However, despite these differences the paper revealed no significant influence of dietary intake on the body composition of these populations. Hence, an adaptive approach is proposed to understand the substantial proportion of body composition variations in these two ethnically diverse populations.
本文旨在了解两个地理和基因背景不同的成年人群体，即来自印度东部平原地区的原住民桑塔尔族以及来自印度东北部高海拔地区的原住民门巴族，其饮食摄入与身体成分之间关联的种族差异。
本研究共招募了200名成年门巴族和204名成年桑塔尔族，研究分阶段进行。本文使用多元和多变量回归框架来评估饮食摄入对身体成分的影响。
在体型方面，无论性别如何，桑塔尔族主要为中胚层体型，而门巴族主要为内胚层体型。同样，门巴族中超重和肥胖个体的比例显著更高（p < 0.001），而桑塔尔族中则不然。
尽管这两个部落都从事基于原始技术的农业，需要大量体力劳动，但他们身体成分的这种差异可能是由于自然环境的根本差异以及饮食/营养摄入的巨大差异。事实上，研究发现与桑塔尔族相比，门巴族的日常饮食富含乳脂肪和动物蛋白。桑塔尔族的日常饮食通常包括米饭和煮蔬菜，蛋白质摄入量低至每月一两次。然而，尽管存在这些差异，本文显示饮食摄入对这些人群的身体成分没有显著影响。因此，提出一种适应性方法来理解这两个种族不同人群中身体成分变化的很大一部分。
