Fat patterning in athletes in relation to ethnic origin and sport

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Abstract
Skinfold measurements [6] of 92 white, black and Mexican-American high school varsity female athletes were analyzed to identify principal components of fatness and relative fat patterning. As in other athletic and non-athletic samples, 2 principal components were evident: a 1st component, accounting for 69% of the variation, was positively related to all skinfold sites, and a 2nd principal component, accounting for 11% of the variation, was correlated positively with extremity sites (particualrly lower limb sites) and negatively with trunk sites. The 1st component (fatness) was significantly related to sport (P < 0.02) but not ethnicity. The 2nd component (extremity/trunk) was significantly related to ethnicity (P < 0.01) but not sport. These results, although tentative due to the limited sample size, support the earlier findings on Olympic athletes, i.e., fatness is more influenced by sport and by training than is fat patterning.