Comparison of predicted body fat percentage from anthropometric methods and from impedance in university students

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to compare different methods for evaluating body fat percentage (BF%) (anthropometric methods and bioelectrical impedance analysis) in university students. Subjects were 653 healthy students whose mean age, body height, body weight and BMI were 21·1 (SD 2·5) years, 166·0 (SD 8·4) cm, 62·8 (SD 11·0) kg and 22·7 (SD 3·1) kg/m 2 , respectively. Results showed that BMI is a poor predictor of body fatness since the sensitivity was low in comparison with the reference method (Siri equation).The lowest values of BF% were obtained using the reference method (Siri equation) (21·8 (SD 6·8) %). The two methods with the highest agreement were Siri and Lean (mean difference, 20·5), followed by Brozek (mean difference, 21·4) and Deurenberg (mean difference, 2 1·5). The largest mean difference for BF% was between Siri and impedance (2 4·5). Although the methods and/or equations used in the present study have been commonly utilised to estimate BF% in young adults, the results must be interpreted with caution in the diagnosis and monitoring of overweight and obesity.

Prevalence of overweight, obesity and physical inactivity in 20- to 29-year-old, Danish men. Relation to sociodemography, physical dysfunction and low socioeconomic status: the Odense Androgen Study

“…29,43,44 The vague associations between physical activity and BMI may reflect a relatively poor specificity of BMI as a measure of overweight, which is particularly relevant in young, muscular men. This view is supported by other studies [45][46][47][48] and by data from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry obtained for all 783 men (personal data, unpublished): when using a cutoff for overweight of 20% body fat, the specificity using WC was 92.0%, but only 77.9% for BMI. Hence, the prevalence of overweight in our study as defined by BMI (31.7%) is probably an over-estimate, which may explain the disagreement with the prevalence of overweight using WC (16.2%).…”

Accuracy of Siri and Brozek equations in the percent body fat estimation in older adults

“…The Brozek equation, originally developed for non-athletic young adult males, has subsequently been applied to different populations, including older adults (3). Although the study of the accuracy of these two equations has already been done in adults (18,19), in older people it remains to be seen which equation provides a more accurate transformation of BD in %BF.Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to identify which equation, Siri or Brozek, provides a more valid transformation of BD in %BF within older people. As DualEnergy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) is a well established reference method for the assessment of older individuals body composition (20,22), it was chosen as a criterion method.…”

“…The Brozek equation, originally developed for non-athletic young adult males, has subsequently been applied to different populations, including older adults (3). Although the study of the accuracy of these two equations has already been done in adults (18,19), in older people it remains to be seen which equation provides a more accurate transformation of BD in %BF.…”

Ratio of Capacitance/BMI Reflects Deficit in Nutritional Concentration While CH2 Reflects Total Nutritional Deficit in CAPD Patients and General Population

“…Gender differences in non normalized bioimpedance parameters (e.g., phase angle and resistive index) have been reported [11,12]. However we have demonstrated that these gender differences disappeared when normal-ized bioimpendance parameters (e.g., body capacitive index) were used [10].…”