Body fat in urban and rural male college students of eastern India.

Male college students (N = 381) residing in several districts of Eastern India, classified into two groups, urban (N = 193) and rural (N = 188), were studied by anthropometric measurements of skinfold thicknesses in several sites of the body to determine their body fat content. The mean value of percentage of body fat was found to be significantly higher (P less than 0.001) in the urban group of students (12.07 +/- 3.04) than in the rurals (11.04 +/- 2.63). The mean values of skinfold thicknesses of the biceps, triceps, and subscapular regions were also found to be higher in urbans (P less than 0.01), but no such significant differences in mean values of supra-iliac and abdominal skinfolds were found between the two groups of students. Most of the subjects of both the groups had a greater thickness of the abdominal skinfold compared to thickness of the biceps, triceps, and suprailiac skinfolds. It was found that the college students of Eastern India were leaner than the youths of North America, Europe, Japan, and Northern India.