Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:04:22.397Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurement of body fat in young and elderly women: comparison between a four-compartment model and widely used reference methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Janneke A. Bergsma–Kadijk ,
Brigitte Baumeister  and
Paul Deurenberg
Janneke A. Bergsma–Kadijk
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, Bomenweg 2, 6703 HD Wageningen, The Netherlands
Brigitte Baumeister
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, Bomenweg 2, 6703 HD Wageningen, The Netherlands
Paul Deurenberg
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, Bomenweg 2, 6703 HD Wageningen, The Netherlands
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Body composition was measured in twenty young females aged 19−27 years and eighteen elderly females, aged 65−78 years by densitometry (underwater weighing), deuterium oxide dilution and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). From body weight, bone-mineral content, total body water and body density, percentage body fat (BF%) was calculated using a four-compartment model. BF% abtained by this four-compartment model was regarded as a reference method and BF% obtained by the single methods were compared with this value. Differences in BF% from the four-compartment model minus the single methods were 2·1 (SD 1·2) for densitometry, 3·1 (SD 1·8) for DXA and -0·6 (SD 0·9) BF% for deuterium oxide dilution in the young women. In the elderly women these values were -0·6 (SD 2·3), 5·3 (SD 3·8) and 0·7 (SD 2·2) BF%. When a three-compartment model (calculated from body density and total body water) was compared with the four-compartment model, the bias was 0·4 (SD 0·3) BF% in the young and 0·0 (SD 0·3) BF% in the elderly women. From the mineral and water fractions in the fat-free mass the true density of the fat-free mass was calculated as 1·1070 (SD 0·0047) kg/l in the young females and 1·0970 (SD 0·0088) kg/l in the elderly women (P<0·001). This study shows that the single methods have considerable mean and individual biases compared with the four-compartment model, but that a three-compartment model calculated from density and total body water offers an acceptable alternative. The difference in calculated density of the fat-free mass between the young and the elderly women shows the need to adapt Siri's formula for specific groups.

Keywords

Body composition: DensitometryDual-energy X-ray absorptiometryDeuterium oxide dilution
Type
Comparison of body-composition methods
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 75 , Issue 5 , May 1996 , pp. 649 - 657
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1996

References

Baumgartner, R. N., Heymsfield, S. B., Lichtman, S., Wang, J. & Pierson, R. N. (1991). Body composition in elderly people: effect of criterion estimates on predictive equations. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53, 1345–1353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (1994). Statistisch Jaarboek 1994, p. 486.'s Gravenhage: sdu/uitgeverij, CBS-publikaties.Google Scholar
Culebras, J. M. & Moore, R. D. (1977). Total body water and the exchangeable hydrogen. I. Theoretical calculations of nonaqueous exchangeable hydrogen in man. American Journal of Physiology 232, R54–R59.Google ScholarPubMed
Deurenberg, P., Weststrate, J. A. & van der Kooy, K. (1989). Is an adaptation of Siri's formula for the calculation of body fat percentage from body density in the elderly necessary? European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43, 559–568.Google Scholar
Forbes, G. B. (1987). Human Body Composition. Growth, Aging, Nutrition, and Activity. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Heymsfield, S. B., Wang, J., Kehayias, J., Heshka, S., Lichtman, S & Pierson, R. N. (1989). Chemical determination of human body density in vivo: relevance to hydrodensitometry. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 1282–1289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jansen, D. F., Korbijn, C. M. & Deurenberg, P. (1992). Variability of body density and body impedance at different frequencies. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 865–871.Google ScholarPubMed
Laskey, M. A., Lyttle, K. D., Flaxman, M. E. & Barber, R. W. (1992). The influence of tissue depth and composition on the performance of the Lunar dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer whole-body scanning mode. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 39–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Lukaski, H. C. (1987). Methods for the assessment of body composition: traditional and new. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 437–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukaski, H. C. & Johnson, P. E. (1985). A simple, inexpensive method of determining total body water using a tracer dose of D2O and infrared absorption of biological fluids. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 41, 363–370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lunar DPX (1992). Technical Manual. Madison, Wisconsin: Lunar.Google Scholar
Mazess, R. B. (1982). On aging bone loss. Clinical Orthopaedics 165, 329–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazess, R. B. (1987). Bone density in diagnosis of osteoporosis: thresholds and breakpoints. Calcified Tissue International 41, 117–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pullicino, E., Coward, W. A., Stubbs, R. J. & Elia, M. (1990). Bedside and field methods for assessing body composition: comparison with the deuterium dilution technique. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 44, 753–762.Google ScholarPubMed
Reilly, J. J., Murray, L. A., Wilson, J. & Durnin, J. V. G. A. (1994). Measuring the body composition of elderly subjects: a comparison of methods. British Journal of Nutrition 72, 33–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roubenoff, R., Kehayias, J. J., Dawson-Hughes, B. & Heymsfield, S. D. (1993). Use of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in body-composition studies: not yet a ‘gold standard’. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 58, 589–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoeller, D. A. (1989). Changes in total body water with age. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, Suppl., 1176–1181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schoeller, D. A. & Jones, P. J. H. (1987). Measurement of total body water by isotope dilution: a unified approach to calculation. In In Vivo Body Composition Studies, pp. 131–137 [Ellis, K. J.Yasumura, S. and Morgan, W. D. editors]. London: Institute of Physical Sciences in Medicine.Google Scholar
Siri, W. E. (1961). Body composition from fluid spaces and density, analysis of methods. In Techniques for Measuring Body Composition, pp. 223–244 [Brozek, J. and Henschel, A. editors]. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (1990). SPSS/PC V4.0 Manuals. Chicago, IL: SPSS Inc.Google Scholar
van Loan, M. D. & Mayclin, P. L. (1992). Body composition assessment: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) compared to reference methods. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 125–130.Google Scholar