A comparison of physical and laboratory measures between two Hutterite leute and the rural Saskatchewan population.

This study compares physical, laboratory and anthropometric measurements from each of two groups (leute) of Hutterites (N = 846) with a population of non-Hutterites from rural Saskatchewan (N = 750). Marked interleute differences were observed in the comparative analysis with the non-Hutterite population. Dariusleut males had significantly greater mean diastolic and systolic blood pressures, total cholesterols, LDL cholesterols and Body Mass Indexes (BMI) than non-Hutterites. Compared with non-Hutterite women, the Dariusleut females had significantly greater mean diastolic and systolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterols, BMIs and waist-hip ratios. In contrast, the only significant difference between non-Hutterites and Lehrerleut males was in BMI. Lehrerleut females had significantly greater mean systolic blood pressures, HDL cholesterol levels and BMIs. While the surprising inter-leute differences may be due to subtle variations in lifestyle, the genetic isolation of the groups suggests heredity may offer a more likely explanation for the differences.