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Variations in percentage of body fat within different BMI groups in young, middle-aged and old women
Lusine Movsesyan1, László B Tankó, Philip J Larsen
1Center for Clinical and Basic Research A/S, Ballerup Byvej, Ballerup, Denmark.
Objectives:
The objective of the present study was to characterize age-dependent variations in percentage of body fat within different body mass index (BMI) classes in healthy Danish women.
Design:
Cross-sectional analysis.
Settings:
The study was done at the Center for Clinical and Basic Research, Ballerup, Denmark.
Subjects:
Four hundred and four healthy women aged 18-75 years were included in the present study.
Measurements:
Fat tissue mass was estimated using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Menopausal status and physical characteristics were also registered.
Results:
Mean values of percentage of body fat calculated in the normal and overweight BMI groups were higher in middle-aged and old women compared with young women. No significant differences were seen in the underweight and obese BMI groups. The cut-off levels between normal and overweight and between overweight and obesity were 35-43% and 40-50%, respectively.
Conclusion:
The percentage of body fat is dependent on both age and menopausal status within each of the following BMI classes: from 20 to 25 and from 25 to 30, further emphasizing that BMI has limitations when used generally as an indicator of body fatness, and argues for defining BMI cut-off values age-specifically.
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