Body composition - nutrition

Body composition represents parameters such as weight, height, shape, sex and body perimeters. These indexes give access to the percentages of fat, muscle, bone and water present in human bodies.

The objective of studying body composition is to obtain an objective notion of nutritional status, which allows to quantify the body reserves of the organism, in order to discover and solve nutritional problems such as the following:

• Excess fats that are a symptom of different degrees of obesity.

• Minimal levels of muscle mass and fat mass, inherent to organisms with nutritional deficiencies.

• Deficits in athletic performance of athletes due to loss of muscle mass.

• Establishment of diets to modify poor body composition.

• Being aware of the nutritional status of sensitive groups such as the elderly, children and women during gestation and breastfeeding.

Body compartments:

In addition to water which accounts for more than half of the body weight, with its highest concentration being located in metabolically active tissues, the other two essential components of our body are:

• Lean tissue or fat-free mass.

• Adipose tissue or storage fat.

Lean tissue: It is composed of bones, muscles, extracellular water, nervous tissue and all other cells that are not classified as fat cells. Muscle mass is the most significant component and through it the nutritional status of the protein is projected.

Variations in lean tissue content:

• Lean tissue covers more space in men and increases gradually with age until the age of 20, decreasing in adulthood.

• Lean tissue levels can be modified by physical activity.

Adipose tissue: fat plays an important role in hormonal metabolism, as well as in the accumulation and defense of the organism. The difference lies in where it is contained, subcutaneous fat generates larger stores and internal or visceral fat.

Variations in fat tissue content:

• Fat content increases with age, and is higher in women than in men.

• In men, fat is deposited preferentially in the abdomen and upper body, while in women it is deposited mainly in the thighs and hips. Fat accumulated in the abdomen is an increased risk for some chronic degenerative diseases.

Techniques for assessing body composition: Anthropometric techniques: this is the most popular technique for determining body composition. It is based on a very simple system of measurements such as weight, height, length of the extremities, and body perimeters, among others. With the notion of these parameters, different indexes can be calculated to evaluate fat-free mass and body fat.

Among the anthropometric techniques, the following stand out:

• body mass index [BMI] .

• Evaluation of body perimeters.

Body mass index [BMI]: it is a useful parameter to determine body composition. The BMI allows the classification of people into underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese, based only on height and weight. It does not consider age, sex, body fat percentages or muscle mass.

The [BMI] is calculated as follows:

• BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms [kg] by the square of height in meters [m].

• BMI = body weight [kg]/[height [m]]².

For example: to determine the body mass index of a man who weighs 120 kg and has a height of 1.92 m, the following procedure is carried out:

• Imc=120 kg/ 1.92 m x 1.92 m

• Imc=120 kg/ 3.68 m²

• Imc=32.6 kg/m²

Classification of persons according to body mass index, according to the World Health Organization:

In some cases these indexes do not directly project body composition. Examples:

• In the case of muscular and disciplined athletes, they could be overweight, but in reality have little fat.

• A marathon runner might qualify as underweight, even though he or she is completely healthy.

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