Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T00:51:03.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Body fat measurement among Singaporean Chinese, Malays and Indians: a comparative study using a four-compartment model and different two-compartment models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Mabel Deurenberg-Yap ,
Gordon Schmidt ,
Wija A. van Staveren ,
Joseph G. A. J. Hautvast  and
Paul Deurenberg
Mabel Deurenberg-Yap*
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, Ministry of Health, Singapore
Gordon Schmidt
Affiliation:
School of Physical Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Wija A. van Staveren
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Joseph G. A. J. Hautvast
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Paul Deurenberg
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author: Dr Mabel Deurenberg-Yap, fax +65 4383605, email Mabel_Yap@moh.gov.sg
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This cross-sectional study compared body fat percentage (BF%) obtained from a four-compartment (4C) model with BF% from hydrometry (using 2H2O), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and densitometry among the three main ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays and Indians) in Singapore, and determined the suitability of two-compartment (2C) models as surrogate methods for assessing BF% among different ethnic groups. A total of 291 subjects (108 Chinese, seventy-six Malays, 107 Indians) were selected to ensure an adequate representation of age range (18–75 years) and BMI range (16–40 kg/m2) of the general adult population, with almost equal numbers from each gender group. Body weight was measured, together with body height, total body water by 2H2O dilution, densitometry with Bodpod® and bone mineral content with Hologic® QDR-4500. BF% measurements with a 4C model for the subgroups were: Chinese females 33.5 (SD 7.5), CHINESE MALES 24.4 (sd 6.1), Malay females 37.8 (sd 6.3), Malay males 26.0 (sd 7.6), Indian females 38.2 (sd 7.0), Indian males 28.1 (sd 5.5). Differences between BF% measured by the 4C and 2C models (hydrometry, DXA and densitometry) were found, with underestimation of BF% in all the ethnic-gender groups by DXA of 2.1–4.2 BF% and by densitometry of 0.5–3.2 BF%). On a group level, the differences in BF% between the 4C model and 2H2O were the lowest (0.0–1.4 BF% in the different groups), while differences between the 4C model and DXA were the highest. Differences between the 4C model and 2H2O and between the 4C model and DXA were positively correlated with the 4C model, water fraction (fwater) of fat-free mass (FFM) and the mineral fraction (fmineral) of FFM, and negatively correlated with density of the FFM (DFFM), while the difference between 4C model and densitometry correlated with these variables negatively and positively respectively (i.e. the correlations were opposite). The largest contributors to the observed differences were fwater and DFFM. When validated against the reference 4C model, 2C models were found to be unsuitable for accurate measurements of BF% at the individual level, owing to the high errors and violation of assumptions of constant hydration of FFM and DFFM among the ethnic groups. On a group level, the best 2C model for measuring BF% among Singaporeans was found to be 2H2O.

Keywords

Fat-free massBody fat percentageEthnicityFour-compartment model
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 85 , Issue 4 , April 2001 , pp. 491 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2001

References

Aloia, JF, Vaswani, A, Ma, R & Flaster, E (1997) Comparison of body composition in Black and White pre-menopausal women. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 129, 294–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, RN, Heymsfield, SB, Lichtman, SM, Wang, J & Pierson, RN (1991) Body composition in elderly people: effect of criterion estimates on predictive equations. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53, 1345–1353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergsma-Kadijk, JA, Baumeister, B & Deurenberg, P (1996) Measurement of body fat in young and elderly women: comparison between a four-compartment model and widely used reference methods. British Journal of Nutrition 75, 649–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bland, JM & Altman, DG (1986) Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurements. Lancet, 307–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodie, D, Moscrip, V & Hutcheon, R (1998) Body composition measurement: a review of hydrodensitometry, anthropometry, and impedance methods. Nutrition 14, 296–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunt, JC, Lohman, TG & Boileau, RA (1989) Impact of total body water fluctuations on estimation of body fat from body density. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 21, 96–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, MA, Millard-Stanford, ML, Evans, EM, Snow, TK, Roskopf, LB & Cureton, KJ (1998) Validation of air displacement plethysmography for estimating body fat in young adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 30(Suppl), 823a.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Côté, KD & Adams, WC (1993) Effect of bone density on body composition estimates in young adult black and white women. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 25, 290–296.Google ScholarPubMed
Dempster, P & Aitkens, S (1995) A new air displacement method for the determination of human body composition. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 27, 419–425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deurenberg, P (1992) The assessment of body composition: use and misuse. Annual Report of the Nestlé Foundation 35–72.Google Scholar
Deurenberg, P, Leenen, R, van der Kooy, K & Hautvast, JGAJ (1989) In obese subjects the body fat percentage calculated with Siri's formula is an overestimation. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43, 569–575.Google ScholarPubMed
Deurenberg, P, Weststrate, JA & van der Kooy, K (1989) Is an adaptation of Siri's formula for the calculation of body fat percentage from body density in the elderly necessary?. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43, 559–568.Google Scholar
Deurenberg-Yap, M, Schmidt, G, van Staveren, W & Deurenberg, P (2000) The paradox of low body mass index and high body fat percent in Singapore. International Journal of Obesity 24, 1011–1017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogelholm, M & van Marken Lichtenbelt, W (1997) Comparison of body composition methods: a literature review. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 51, 495–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbes, GB (1987) Human body composition. New York: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, D, Visser, M, Sepúlveda, D, Pierson, RN, Harris, T & Heymsfield, SB (1996) How useful is body mass index for comparison of body fatness across age, gender, and ethnic groups?. American Journal of Epidemiology 143, 228–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, CC, Chumlea, WC & Roche, AF (1988) Stature, recumbent length and weight. In Arthropometric Standardization Reference Manual [Lohman, TG, Roche, AF & Martorell, R, editors]. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.Google Scholar
Gurrici, S, Hartriyanti, Y, Hautvast, JGAJ & Deurenberg, P (1998) Relationship between body fat and body mass index: differences between Indonesians and Dutch Caucasians. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 52, 779–783.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heymsfield, SB, Wang, Z, Baumgartner, RN & Ross, R (1997) Human body composition: advances in models and methods. Annual Review of Nutrition 17, 527–558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jebb, SA & Elia, M (1993) Techniques for the measurement of body composition: a practical guide. International Journal of Obesity 17, 611–621.Google ScholarPubMed
Jiang, ZM, Yang, NF, Chou, C, Liu, Z, Sun, T & Chen, Y (1991) Body composition in Chinese subjects: comparison with data from North America. World Journal of Surgery 15, 95–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laskey, MA, Lyttle, KD, Flaxman, ME & Barber, RW (1992) The influence of tissue depth and composition on the performance of the Lunar dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer whole-body scanning mode. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 39–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Lohman, TG (1996) Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry Human Body Composition.[AF, Roche, SB, Heymsfield & TG, Lohman, editors]. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Google Scholar
Lukaski, HC (1987) Methods for the assessment of human body composition: traditional and new. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 537–556.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukaski, HC & Johnson, PE (1985) A simple, inexpensive method of determining total body water using a tracer dose of D2O and infrared absorption of biological fluids. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 41, 363–370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCrory, MA, Gomez, TD, Bernauer, EM & Molé, PA (1995) Evaluation of a new air displacement plethysmograph for measuring human body composition. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 27, 1686–1691.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Millard-Stanford, M, Collins, MA, Rosskopf, LB, Snow, TK & Webb, SA (1998) Air displacement plethysmography compared to multi-component models for estimating body composition in African American men. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 30(Suppl.), 822a.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health (1999) Report of the National Health Survey 1998 Singapore: Epidemiology and Disease Control Department.Google Scholar
Nuñez, C, Kovera, AJ, Pietrobelli, A, Heshka, S, Horlick, M, Kehayais, JJ, Wang, Z & Heymsfield, SB (1999) Body composition in children and adults by air displacement plethysmography. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53, 382–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ortiz, O, Russell, M, Daley, TL, Baumgartner, RN, Waki, M, Lichtman, S, Wang, J, Pierson, RN & Heymsfield, SB (1992) Differences in skeletal muscle and bone mineral mass between black and white females and their relevance to estimate body composition. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 55, 8–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pace, N & Rathbun, EN (1945) Studies on body composition: water and chemically combined nitrogen content in relation to fat content. Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, 685–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pullicino, E, Coward, WA, Stubbs, RJ &, Elia, M (1990) Bedside and field methods for assessing body composition: comparison with the deuterium dilution technique. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 44, 753–762.Google ScholarPubMed
Roubenoff, R, Kehayia, JJ, Dawson-Hughes, B & Heymsfield, SB (1993) Use of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in body-composition studies: not yet a ‘gold standard’. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 58, 589–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoeller, DA, AF, Roche, SBHeymsfield, TGLohman (1996) Hydrometry Human Body Composition.[AF, Roche, SB, Heymsfield & TG, Lohman, editors]. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Google Scholar
Siri, WE, JBrozek, AHenschel (1961) Body composition from fluid spaces and density, analysis of methods. in Techniques for measuring body composition 223–244. [J, Brozek & A, Henschel, editors].Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Tothill, P, Avenell, A & Reid, DM (1994) Precision and accuracy of measurements of whole-body bone mineral: comparison between Hologic, Lunar and Norland dual energy X-ray absorptiometers. British Journal of Radiology 67, 1210–1217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Loan, MD (1998) Estimates of fat-free mass (FFM) by densitometry, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) in Caucasian and Chinese-American women. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 49, 751–752.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Loan, MD & Mayclin, PL (1992) Body composition assessment: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) compared to reference methods. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 125–130.Google Scholar
Visser, M, Gallagher, D, Deurenberg, P, Wang, J, Pierson, RN & Heymsfield, SB (1997) Density of fat-free body mass: relationship with race, age, and level of body fatness. American Journal of Physiology 272, E781–E787.Google ScholarPubMed
Vogel, JA & Friedl, KE (1992) Body fat assessment in women. Sports Medicine 13, 245–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waki, M, Kral, JG, Mazariegos, M, Wang, J, Pierson, RN & Heymsfield, SB (1991) Relative expansion of extracellular fluid in obese vs. non-obese women. American Journal of Physiology 261, E829–E834.Google Scholar
Wang, ZM, Deurenberg, P, Guo, SS, Pietrobelli, A, Wang, J, Pierson, RN & Heymsfield, SB (1998) Six compartments body composition model: Inter-method comparisons of total body fat measurement. International Journal of Obesity 22, 329–337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, ZM, Deurenberg, P, Wang, W, Pietrobelli, A, Baumgartner, RM & Heymsfield, SB (1999) Hydration of fat free mass: new physiological modelling approach. American Journal of Physiology 276, E995–E1003.Google Scholar
Wang, ZM, Deurenberg, P, Wang, W, Pietrobelli, A, Baumgartner, RM & Heymsfield, SB (1999) Hydration of fat-free body mass: review and critique of a classic body composition constant. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 69, 833–841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, J, Thornton, JC, Burastero, S, Shen, J, Tanenbaum, S, Heymsfield, SB & Pierson, RN (1996) Comparison for BMI and body fat percent among Puerto Ricans, Blacks, Whites and Asians living in the New York City area Obesity Research 4, 377–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, J, Thornton, JC, Russell, M, Burastero, S, Heymsfield, SB & Pierson, RN (1994) Asians have lower body mass index (BMI) but higher percent body fat than do Whites: comparisons of anthropometric measurements. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 60, 23–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yee, A & Kern, M (1998) Validation of the BODPOD: Method for estimating percent body fat in an elderly population. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 30(Suppl.), 824a.CrossRefGoogle Scholar