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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #198450
Title: WHOLE BODY COUNTING AND NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Author
item Ellis, Kenneth

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2005
Publication Date: 8/20/2005
Citation: Ellis, K.J. 2005 Whole body counting and neutron activation analysis. In: Heymsfield, S.B., Lohman, T.G., Wang, Z.M., Going, S.B., editors. Human Body Composition. 2nd edition. Champaign, IL:, Human Kinetics. p. 51-62.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The composition of the human body can be described using a number of different models. The most basic is the atomic model. This chapter describes several nuclear-based techniques that have been used to obtain direct in vivo chemical assays of the whole body of humans. In particular, the body's content of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chloride, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon can be measured with high precision and accuracy. Furthermore, organ-specific assays for cadmium, lead, mercury, manganese, and silicon also have been developed, in part to asess environmental and industrial exposure to these metals. For this chapter, we will focus on the elemental composition most related to the body's bone, muscle, protein and fat content.