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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Dietary Prevention of Obesity-related Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #127360
Title: COMPARISON OF REGIONAL BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE (BI) DEVICES TO ASSESS WHOLEBODY FATNESS (BF) IN ADULTS

Author
item Lukaski, Henry
item Siders, William

Submitted to: Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2001
Publication Date: 3/20/2002
Citation: Lukaski, H.C., Siders, W.A. 2002. Comparison of regional bioelectrical impedance (BI) devices to assess wholebody fatness (BF) in adults [abstract]. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. 16:A229.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Growing interest in body composition has lead to the development of personal %BF assessment devices for home use. We compared %BF determinations from two commercial BI devices that use either hand-to-hand (HH) or foot-to-foot (FF) contact electrode placements with dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in 45 women and 28 men aged 22-72 yr. Although %BF values determined with the HH (r = 0.90) and FF (0.86) were correlated (P<0.0001) with DXA determinations, both the HH [28.5 +/- 1.1% (mean +/- SE)] and FF (30.8 +/- 1.1%) devices underestimated (P<0.0001) %BF compared to DXA (33.1 +/- 1.4%). Among the women, DXA %BF values (39.2 +/- 1.4%) exceeded (P<0.0001) the estimates from the FF (35.2 +/- 1.0%) which were greater (P<0.0001) than those from the HH (33.9 +/- 1.1%) device. For the men, DXA yielded similar values as the FF (23.2 +/- 1.5 vs 23.7 +/- 1.6%) but greater (P<0.0001) than HH (19.7 +/- 1.2%). Differences in %BF values by method (DXA-HH, r = 0.58; DXA-FF, r = 0.58) were related (P<0.0001) to the upper and lower body %BF, respectively. Errors in BI estimates of %BF were similar for men and women. Bias in regional BI determinations of %BF was not (P>0.05) related to upper and lower body distribution of fat-free, bone-free mass. These findings indicate that prediction of whole-body %BF from regional BI measurements yields inaccurate determinations of %BF apparently because of differences in regional fat distribution.