Sub-regional tissue morphometry in male athletes and controls using dual X-Ray absorptiometry (DXA)

Athletes have traditionally been evaluated for body composition by percent fat, percent muscle, and somatotype. Since the late 1980s, dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) has offered total and regional body composition of bone mineral content (BMC), lean tissue and fat, but studies involving athletes are rare (11) and have not included regional tissue distribution. In the present study, DXA was used to compare a total of 121 male subjects belonging to 9 different athletic groups and controls. ANOVA showed total tissue percent BMC, lean tissue, and fat were significantly different between the various athletic groups (p <.001). Regional differences in tissue distribution between different athletic groups affect BMC and lean tissue (p <.001), but not fat (p >.05). However, athletes of the leanest groups had different fat distribution to that of nonexercising controls (p <.01). It appears that fat distribution is nonspecific in its response to exercise, while lean and BMC distributions show highly specific adaptations to specific sports.