Previous studies have shown that native Hawaiian school children are fatter, and have fat distributed more centrally, then non-Hawaiian classmates. Both adiposity and, particularly, fat distribution are significantly related to percentage of Polynesian ancestry (PPA) in Hawaiian children, suggesting an ethnically based inherited component of these traits. Since obesity and a central fat distribution are related to risk for cardiovascular disease and non-insulin dependent diabetes, fatness may help explain the relatively high rates of these diseases among native Hawaiians. This investigation will measure risk factors for chronic diseases, including blood lipid levels, glucose tolerance, and plasma insulin levels in Hawaiian adults. Both adiposity and fat distribution will also be measured, and the relationship between them and the health risk factors will be assessed. Interrelationships of fatness and health risk measures among family members will be determined, and comparisons of family resemblances of these measures between adopted and biological family members will be made. Socioeconomic, cultural, and genealogical information will also be gathered, allowing assessment of the relative importance of sociocultural versus inherited components of variance in fatness and measures of health risk. Undergraduate students will be trained in: anthropometric techniques, interviewing procedures, some biochemical analysis procedures, basic computer skills, elementary data analysis and statistics, and both the preparation and presentation of research reports.
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