Health and ageing: a cross-sectional study of body composition

The aim of this work was to provide a complete profile of body composition (BC) in healthy subjects and to investigate age and gender-related differences by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and its latest developments.

Italian volunteers among blood donors were enrolled in 5 different age bands (from 18 to 70 years old) to reach the threshold of 25 males and 25 females per single band (total: 250 subjects). All non-obese subjects who satisfied selective inclusion criteria were measured for weight and height and submitted to DXA, to determine fat mass (FM), non-bone lean mass (LM), bone mineral content and density, at regional and whole-body level. Moreover, the assessment of android visceral FM was performed by a new software.

A decrease in LM and increase in FM was observed with ageing, although the phenomenon was proved to be attenuated in women. The central and visceral redistribution of FM was also shown along lifetime, but women were not affected as men by this change.

This paper is a report on the status of healthy Italian subjects in their adulthood, to be used as a reference for future investigations on physiology, pathological human conditions, and differences between countries.