Body Composition

By Deena Hamza

Hello Everyone! I hope all of my G.O.Ps had a wonderful Thanksgiving and each and every one of you took the time to reflect on the things and people you are thankful for.

Body composition is a measurement that can provide a ratio of body fat to lean muscle mass and can give an indication of how healthy a person is. Here’s a list of the top ways to measure body composition:

CALIPER OR SKINFOLD TEST:

• Accurately measures the subcutaneous fat (surface level) on the body
• Calipers are used to grab adipose fat in up to nine sites in the body
• Sum of skin-folds is calculated and applied to equations to determine fat percentage
• This measurement does not measure visceral adipose tissue

WAIST – TO HIP RATION:

• Accurate and simple test
• Waist and girth are determined with a measuring tape
• Waist girth is divided by hip girth to provide a ratio
• Values below 0.85 for men and 0.80 for women are acceptable
• Strong relationship found between waist and hip relativity and heart disease

HYDRODENSITOMETRY OR UNDERWATER WEIGHING:

• Very accurate test measuring the density of the body under water
• This measurement follows the premise that muscle weighs more than fat and will provide a denser measure in healthy individuals

BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDENCE (BIA):

• Very popular
• Top of the line Tanita scales cost $80 – $300
• Accurate test measuring the conductance of an electrical current through the body
• Fat free conductivity and fat mass conductivity provide percentages

DUAL X-RAY ABSORPTIOMETRY (DEXA):

• Most accurate test
• Two x-rays measure body’s mineral mass, fat mass, and fat free mass
• Amount of s-ray photon absorbed by the type of mass indicates the amount of tissue (i.e. fat, muscle, mineral)

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI):

• Very accurate but expensive measuring technique
• Magnetic field is used to excite water and fat molecules
• Reading provides how fat is distributed throughout the body

AIR DISPLACEMENT PLETHYSMOGRAPHY (BOD POD):

• Accurate but expensive test
• Very similar to underwater weighing
• Air displacement is used as the technique to determine the density of the body

BODY MASS INDEX (BMI):

• Common but inaccurate measurement
• Height and weight is used to determine body mass
• Does not account for muscle mass weighing more than fat mass
• A lean bodybuilder could have a greater (unhealthier) BMI than an obese individual

COMPUTED TOPOGRAPHY:

• Accurate but expensive test
• Cross-sectional scans of the body are used
• Best used to provide images of intra-abdominal fat versus subcutaneous distributions

I have a Tanita bioelectrical impedance scale and have used mine for over 5 years for personal and commercial use and it’s very enlightening and useful. Which one would you use?

In health, Deena