Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Growth data and growth studies: characteristics and methodological issues
- 1 Why study child growth and maturation?
- 2 The human growth curve: distance, velocity and acceleration
- 3 Sampling for growth studies and using growth data to assess, monitor and survey disease in epidemiological settings
- 4 Measuring growth
- 5 Measuring maturity
- 6 Measuring body composition
- Part II Non-parametric and parametric approaches for individual growth
- Part III Methods for population growth
- Part IV Special topics
- Index
6 - Measuring body composition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Growth data and growth studies: characteristics and methodological issues
- 1 Why study child growth and maturation?
- 2 The human growth curve: distance, velocity and acceleration
- 3 Sampling for growth studies and using growth data to assess, monitor and survey disease in epidemiological settings
- 4 Measuring growth
- 5 Measuring maturity
- 6 Measuring body composition
- Part II Non-parametric and parametric approaches for individual growth
- Part III Methods for population growth
- Part IV Special topics
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The field of body composition research is a multidisciplinary effort that serves multiple goals. It is very technology oriented, and a great deal of effort is expended on discussion of the techniques, and their validation and cross-calibration. For studies involving infants, children and adolescents, this is of particular concern, because techniques that are of proven accuracy in adults may be fraught with error in children due to changes in the size and composition of body compartments during development. Consequently, standard approaches used in adults may not be applicable or safe for use with children. This review is targeted at techniques for assessing body composition, and includes a disproportionate discussion of those techniques most feasible and practical for use with children. Considerations of the methodological assumptions and of the analysis and presentation of body composition results for children also are reviewed.
Basic concepts
Body composition assessment involves quantification of the amount and relative proportions of fat, muscle and bone, and their chemical components. Significant changes in body composition occur during growth and development, especially during infancy and puberty. Thus, body composition assessment in children is far more challenging than in adults, and serves a variety of purposes. First, it provides a better understanding of growth processes by describing changes in the size of body compartments and the chemical composition of the body. Infants and children are not miniature adults, and knowledge of their unique differences in body composition is key to understanding the biology of the human species.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Methods in Human Growth Research , pp. 141 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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