[Body composition in a group of young women studied by bioelectrical impedance analysis]

Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), based upon electrical conductivity of fat free mass, seems to be a rapid and useful method to predict body composition. The purpose of this study was to estimate the body composition of 32 young women using BIA and to compare its results with anthropometry (skinfolds measurements). No significant differences between fat-free mass or fat mass obtained by the two different methods were found. A high correlation between both methods for fat free mass (r = 0.826), fat mass (r = 0.861) and percentage of fat (r = 0.697) were found. On the other hand, correlation between resistance (r = -0.661), impedance (r = -0.663), height2/resistance (r = 0.803), height2/impedance (r = 0.804) and height2/reactance (r = 0.533) and fat free mass obtained by skinfolds measurements have been observed. These results suggest that BIA may be an adequate method besides anthropometry to assess body composition in homogeneous population with a stable body weight.