As the name implies this method involves pinching the subcutaneous fat layer with fingers and measuring the thickness using a caliper. Calipers easily portable and measurement is simple and inexpensivehowever this method involves estimating the total.
Cheat Your Body Fat Test Weightology
Body composition measurement research. Body composition measurements are useful in assessing the effectiveness of nutritional interventions and monitoring the changes associated with growth and disease conditions. In addition to these simple methods there are devices you can buy that measure body composition. Body composition measurement with dual energy x ray absorptiometry dexa is used increasingly for a variety of clinical and research applications. Researchers continue to study other methods to assess body fat. Questions such as whether body weight or lean body mass is the best indicator of when premature babies are healthy enough to go home or whether very chubby babies are more prone to develop cardiovascular problems as adults can only be answered with research using precise body composition measurements. The low cost speed of measurement and lack of need for technical expertise makes bia an attractive option for body composition measurement particularly in epidemiological research.
Imaging tests such as ultrasound may also be used to measure body composition. Measurement of body composition determines how much our body is made of fat and fat free mass. Elderly people people with a fever body builders or highly trained athletes patients undergoing dialysis patients with osteoporosis who have very low bone density pregnant women people with swelling children in growth stage. But theyre expensive and arent usually used only for measuring body fat. The most accurate methods are usually expensive and only used in research or medical centers. A dexa scan requires medical supervision by a radiologist and some consider it to be the new gold standard in body composition testing.
Measurement of body composition provides a better estimate of fitness and health compared to the body mass index because this measurement does not only counting for body weight and height. Why is the body composition important. As the body composition such as body water can greatly deviate from the average value for the following profiles inaccurate measurement might occur. Clinical parameters and anthropometry measurements including the composite scores from the. Table 4 r 2 in the prediction of body composition from hierarchical addition of independent variables. However the accuracy of bia is dependent on several factors and as a result it is likely the least valid measure of body composition discussed in this article.
It is also known as pinch test. Body composition studies play a key role in understanding childhood growth and development. These scans can provide the most precise body composition measurements especially for intra abdominal fat measurement. One of the anthropometric methods used for measuring body fat is the skinfold test.
Gallery of Body Composition Measurement Research
