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The global population today is 7.2 billons, of which 17.5% resides in India. 94% of population
residing are Hindus and rest 6% are Muslims, Christians, Jews and Buddhist. Majority of Hindu
Population i.e. Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kutchi etc resides in Mumbai. Mumbai being a diverse
capital of religions and traditions; has varied traditional practices but identical lifestyle habits
resulting in similar body composition. About 200 individuals with mean age 32 ± 9.1, were studied
i.e. 100 from each community (50 males and 50 females) respectively. A purposive sampling
technique was used to collect the samples. A pre-tested questionnaire (Annexure 1) was used along
with body composition analyzer (Tanita BC541 – Annexure 2). Faulty eating practices, lack of
physical activities and stressful life is leading today’s young population towards lifestyle disorder i.e
obesity (p=0.087) due to high body fat percentage.
Summary and Conclusion: The results revealed that the Punjabi subjects were found to be less
active than the Gujarati subjects. The frequency of physical activity was seen to be significantly
correlated (p=0.087) to the fat mass in Punjabi females along with the muscle mass and bone mass
in females from both the communities.
Keywords: Punjabi, Gujarati, Physical activity, Anthropometric measurements, fat mass, bone density