Anthropometric estimation of basal metabolic rate in Nigeria children and adolescents of Niger Delta region of Nigeria

Abstract

Most data on basal metabolic rates (BMR) obtained are from developed countries of the world and a few from Asian countries. No literature is available on BMR in Nigerian children, hence this investigation was carried out in a total of 801 randomly sampled human subjects 606 of whom are children (ages 6 to 17 years) and 195 adolescents' (ages 14 to 19 years). Among the children, 264 were boys while 342 were girls. In adolescents, 119 were boys and 76 were girls. It was found that the BMR in Nigerian children ranged between 33.3 and 58.42 in males, 37.54 and 53.42 in females. The BMR's were higher at lower age groups than in the older children. The BMR's were higher than those of their counter part Caucasian or Asian children. But the results were within the 15% deviation set as normal standards by Mayo foundation standard charts of BMR.

Key Words:

• Basal metabolic rate Anthropometry
• Nigerian children and
• adolescents