An evaluation of patterns of change in total and regional body fat mass in healthy Spanish subjects using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)

Abstract

Background/Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the evolution of total and regional fat mass according to gender, and to establish age and gender-related differences in a largely non-obese sedentary Spanish sample population using dualenergy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Subject/Methods: A total of 1113 healthy subjects (397 male and 716 female) from the city of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain, were used in the study. Fat mass measures were obtained from DXA scans of all subjects. Total body fat and body fat in three subregions (trunk, arms and legs) were evaluated. Results: As opposed to males, females showed from early infancy a smaller rate of muscular mass and a larger percentage of body fat (from 10 years of age), with fat deposits being basically gynoid or peripheral. With age, females showed a greater increase in fat mass together with an accelerated loss of muscular mass. Both rates tended to level out between 51 and 65 years of age. Between the ages of 40 and 60, females exhibited significant morphological evidence of larger fat depots in their legs. Conclusions: Gender differences in the patterns of proportion and distribution of body fat, as well as in the pattern of body fat evolution, were found from early infancy. Further research is required, including assessing fat mass variables in order to unravel the dynamic of body composition and to understand the complex relationship between trunk fat mass deposits and the health risks associated with obesity.

The visceral adiposity index is associated with insulin sensitivity and IGF-I levels in adults with growth hormone deficiency

“…Several methods are available to evaluate body composition and in the literature DEXA is reported to be the best currently available technique for detecting overt body composition modifications [36]. However, DEXA cannot distinguish between body cell mass and water and consequently these data may not be accurate since GHT is associated with an increase in the intracellular water component [37].…”

Body composition assessment using DXA in six-year-old children: the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

“…Several studies using DXA assessed children across a wide age range and therefore presented their results as total estimates or by age group but not at individual ages 5,10,31,32 . The analysis of mean FM and LBM including children across a wide age range in the same group makes it difficult to compare our results to those of other studies since the measurements of body composition vary substantially throughout childhood 2,33 .…”

“…The increase in prevalence of obesity, including in childhood, has led to a number of studies on the theme, mainly in developed and in European countries 4,5,6 . In general, these studies showed that greater adiposity in infancy and childhood was associated to female sex 4,5,6,7,8,9 , white skin color 7,9,10,11 , higher birth 4,12 and current weight 12,13,14 , higher pre-gestational maternal 4,7,15 and paternal body mass index 14,16 , maternal smoking in pregnancy 15,16,17 , and shorter duration of breastfeeding 6,18 , whereas the role of socioeconomic conditions is controversial at the literature 7,14,16,19,20 .…”

Therapy of Endocrine disease: Long-term effects of recombinant human GH replacement in adults with GH deficiency: a systematic review

“…These differences might have influenced the results significantly. In the literature, DEXA is reported to be the best currently available technique for measuring body composition (29); however, in this respect, it has to be noted that DEXA cannot distinguish between body cell mass (BCM) and water. Therefore, the LBM data may not be accurate, as rhGH replacement is associated with an increase in the intracellular water component (30,31,32,33).…”