Age- and gender-related changes in body composition in Japanese subjects

Age-dependent changes in body composition, namely a decrease in bone mass and lean mass and a reciprocal increase in fat mass, are often observed in normal populations. The recent development of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) made it possible to analyze bone mineral content (BMC), fat mass (fat), and lean body mass (LBM) more precisely and easily. We measured BMC, fat, and LBM in Japanese subjects by DXA to describe the changes in body composition with aging in the Japanese population. A total of 34 female (aged 20-74) and 34 male (aged 18-78) volunteers were divided into three groups according to their age: young (18-22 years), middle-aged (39-48 years), and old (61-78 years). Mean values for body height (BH), body weight (BW), and body mass index (BMI) of the subjects were very similar to Japanese normative values. The BMI of the middle-aged group was the highest of all groups of both sexes. BMC decreased significantly with aging in females but not in males. A decrease in LBM and a reciprocal increase in fat were found between young and middle-aged males but not in females. The correlation between BMC and LBM tends to be greater in males than in females. On the other hand, the correlation between BMC and fat was greater in females than males. These results demonstrate the age- and gender-related difference in body components in Japanese subjects. DXA may be useful for the analysis of body composition in different age and sex groups.