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A new method for measuring the body density of obese adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

J. S. Garrow ,
Susan Stalley ,
R. Diethelm ,
Ph. Pittet ,
R. Hesp  and
D. Halliday
J. S. Garrow
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre, Walford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
Susan Stalley
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre, Walford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
R. Diethelm
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre, Walford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
Ph. Pittet
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre, Walford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
R. Hesp
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre, Walford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
D. Halliday
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Centre, Walford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ
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Abstract

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1. A new apparatus is described with which it is possible to measure the volume (and hence density) of obese patients without requiring them to immerse totally in water. Replicate measurements of subjects with 6, 23 and 38 kg body fat had a standard deviation not greater than 0.3 kg fat.

2. In nineteen obese women body fat was measured by density, total body water, and total body potassium at the beginning, and again at the end, of a period of 3–4 weeks on a reducing diet, during which they lost 5.43 (SD 1.83) kg in weight. The composition of weight loss was also estimated both by energy balance and nitrogen balance during the interval between the two measurements of body composition.

3. The estimates of fat content of the nineteen women at the start of the balance period were 45.63 (SD 14.50)kg by density, 48.07 (SD 13.88) kg by K and 47.09 (SD 13.85) kg by water. The correlation coefficient between the density and K estimate was 0–949, and for the density and water estimate it was 0.971.

4. It is concluded that measurement of density by the new method provides a convenient method for estimating body fatness, and change in fat content, which compares favourably with estimates based on total body water or total body K. However, these methods cannot be used to provide an accurate estimate of the composition of a small weight loss in an individual since deviations up to 4 kg fat occur between fat loss based on change in density and those based on the more reliable (but more tedious) energy balance method.

Type
Papers of direct relevance to Clinical and Human Nutrition
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , September 1979 , pp. 173 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1979

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