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Body composition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about fat, bone and muscle content of the human body. For the body's chemical
composition, see Composition of the human body. For the general composition of all organisms,
see Biological organisation.
In physical fitness, body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle
in human bodies. Because muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our
body composition, as well as our weight, determines leanness. Two people at the same height
and same body weight may look completely different from each other because they have a
different body composition.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Recommendations
• 2 Measuring body composition
• 3 See also
• 4 References

[edit] Recommendations
The National Institute of Health[1] recommends that a healthy adult male's body should have
between 8 and 17 percent fat and a female should have 10-21%. Levels significantly above these
amounts may indicate excess body fat. Athletes, leaner individuals, and more muscular
individuals will have a body fat percentage lower than these levels. In general, most athletes
experience greater performance benefits[2] at body fat percentages between 7 and 19 percent for
men, and 10 and 25 percent for women, depending on the sport.[3] hi
[edit] Measuring body composition
Body composition (particularly body fat percentage) can be measured in several ways. The most
common method is by using a set of measurement calipers to measure the thickness of
subcutaneous fat in multiple places on the body. This includes the abdominal area, the
subscapular region, arms, buttocks and thighs. These measurements are then used to estimate
total body fat with a margin of error of approximately four percentage ps.
Another method is bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), which uses the resistance of electrical
flow through the body to estimate body fat.
A technique for measuring body composition has been developed using the same principles as
under water weighing. The technique uses air, as opposed to water and is known as air
displacement plethysmography (ADP). Subjects enter a sealed chamber that measures their body
volume through the displacement of air in the chamber. Body volume is combined with body
weight (mass) in order to determine body density. The technique then estimates the percentage of
body fat and lean body mass (LBM) through known equations (for the density of fat and fat free
mass).
Body composition measurement with Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is used
increasingly for a variety of clinical and research applications. Total body or estimated total body
scans using DEXA give accurate and precise measurements of BMD and body composition,
including bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD), lean tissue mass, fat tissue
mass, and %fat results [4].
These measurements are extremely reproducible, making them excellent for monitoring
pharmaceutical therapy, nutritional or exercise intervention, sports training &/or other body
composition altering programs. They are also fast, simple, non-invasive, and expose the subject
to a level of x-rays lower than that of a cross-country flight. DEXA exams provide both total
body and up to 14 regional (trunk, individual arms & legs, android, gynoid, etc) results.
Body Composition is also estimated using cross-sectional imaging methods like magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). Since MRI and CT give the most
precise body composition measures to-date, many pharmaceutical companies are very interested
in this new procedure to estimate body composition measures before and after drug therapy
especially in drugs that might change body composition.
[edit] See also
• Body Volume Index
[edit] References
1. ^ "MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Weight management".
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001943.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
2. ^ "Physiology & Psychology: Performance Benchmarks -- Body Composition".
http://btc.montana.edu/olympics/physiology/pb03.html. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
3. ^ "A Guide to Body Fat Percentage". http://www.sport-fitness-
advisor.com/bodyfatpercentage.html. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
4. ^ et al. (2000) J Clin Densitom 3:35–41
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_composition"
Categories: Health | Self-care | Body shape | Medical signs
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