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Estimates of body fatness in infancy and childhood

Peter S W Davies1

  • 1Infant & Child Nutrition Group, MRC Dunn Nutrition Group, Cambridge, CB4 1XJ, United Kingdom.

American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council
|May 20, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Accurately estimating body composition in children is challenging. Using H218O as a tracer allows noninvasive measurement of fat-free mass and fat mass, revealing potential increases in childhood body fatness over time.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Nutrition
  • Body Composition Analysis
  • Biomedical Tracers

Background:

  • Accurate body composition assessment in infants and children is crucial but faces ethical and practical limitations.
  • Existing methods for pediatric body fat estimation are often invasive or impractical.
  • Noninvasive techniques are needed to accurately assess body composition in the growing pediatric population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To utilize deuterium-labeled water (H218O) as a tracer for noninvasive body composition estimation in pediatric populations.
  • To assess body fatness in infants and children aged 0.1 to 3.99 years.
  • To compare current body fatness estimates with historical reference data and investigate secular trends.

Main Methods:

  • Employed the stable isotope tracer H218O to calculate total body water.
  • Derived fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) from total body water measurements.
  • Conducted 244 body composition assessments in children from 0.1 to 3.99 years of age.

Main Results:

  • Mean percentage body fatness in the first year of life aligned with previously published reference data.
  • Body fatness estimates during childhood were significantly higher than established reference data.
  • Observed differences suggest a potential secular trend toward increased body fatness in children.

Conclusions:

  • The H218O tracer method provides a viable noninvasive approach for pediatric body composition analysis.
  • Current body fatness levels in children appear higher than historical data suggest.
  • Evidence supports a hypothesis of a secular trend of increasing body fatness in the pediatric population.

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