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The prediction of total body fatness in early infancy

P S Davies1, A Lucas

  • 1MRC Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, U.K.

Early Human Development
|March 1, 1990
PubMed

Insights

Skinfold thickness measurements are poor predictors of body fat percentage in infants. Variations in how infants store fat internally versus externally may explain this weak relationship.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Nutrition
  • Body Composition Analysis
  • Infant Growth Studies

Background:

  • Accurate assessment of body fat in infants is crucial for monitoring growth and health.
  • Skinfold thickness is a commonly used, non-invasive method to estimate body fat.
  • Previous studies have shown variable success in using skinfolds to predict body fat in pediatric populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the predictive accuracy of skinfold thickness measurements for estimating body fat percentage in infants.
  • To determine if triceps and subscapular skinfold measurements can reliably predict fat mass in early infancy.
  • To explore potential reasons for discrepancies between skinfold measurements and actual body fat percentage.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a cohort of male and female infants at 5, 11, and 26 weeks of age.
  • Determined fat-free mass and fat mass using the H2(18)O dilution technique for precise body composition analysis.
  • Employed multiple regression analysis to assess the relationship between skinfold thicknesses and percentage body fat.

Main Results:

  • Skinfold thickness measurements demonstrated poor predictive value for percentage body fat across all infant ages studied.
  • Both triceps and subscapular skinfold measurements showed limited ability to accurately estimate body fat percentage.
  • The predictive models using skinfold data consistently yielded low accuracy.

Conclusions:

  • Standard skinfold thickness measurements are not reliable indicators of body fat percentage in infants.
  • The distribution of body fat, including both internal and external stores, likely influences the poor predictive accuracy of skinfolds.
  • Further research into alternative or combined methods is needed for precise infant body composition assessment.

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