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Author Spotlight: Advancements in 3D Optical Imaging for Comprehensive Body Composition Assessment in Modern Research
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Body Composition Characteristics of a Load-Capacity Model: Age-Dependent and Sex-Specific Percentiles in 5- to

Isabel Gätjens1, Steffen Christian Ekkehard Schmidt2, Sandra Plachta-Danielzik3

  • 1Institute of Human Nutrition and Food Science, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Obesity Facts
|November 24, 2021
PubMed

Insights

New reference data for body composition in children and adolescents are now available. These data help assess nutritional status and identify early risks of sarcopenia in overweight youth.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Nutrition
  • Body Composition Analysis
  • Growth and Development

Background:

  • Body mass index (BMI) is insufficient for characterizing pediatric nutritional status.
  • Accurate body composition assessment requires suitable reference data for interpretation.
  • Existing pediatric reference data for body composition are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To generate age-dependent and sex-specific body composition reference data for German children and adolescents.
  • To provide a robust dataset for monitoring and interpreting pediatric body composition.
  • To identify potential health risks associated with body composition in youth.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study of 15,392 children and adolescents aged 5-17 years.
  • Body composition assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) with a validated algorithm.
  • Age- and sex-specific percentiles for BMI, fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), and load-capacity models were generated using the LMS method.

Main Results:

  • BMI, FMI, and FFMI showed steady increases, while FM/FFM2 centiles decreased with age.
  • Observed sex differences in FMI and FM/FFM percentiles, particularly during puberty.
  • Overweight children and adolescents exhibited a high prevalence (over 60%) of low fat-free mass relative to fat mass.

Conclusions:

  • The generated pediatric body composition reference data are crucial for physicians and public health scientists.
  • These data facilitate monitoring of body composition during growth and development.
  • The findings highlight an early risk of sarcopenia in overweight pediatric populations.
Abstract

Keywords:
Body compositionChildrenFat mass indexFat-free mass indexLoad-capacity model

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