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Body Composition Measurements from Birth through 5 Years: Challenges, Gaps, and Existing & Emerging Technologies-A National Institutes of Health workshop.
Gallagher, D, Andres, A, Fields, DA, Evans, WJ, Kuczmarski, R, Lowe, WL, Lumeng, JC, Oken, E, Shepherd, JA, Sun, S, et al
Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. 2020;(8):e13033
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Abstract
Body composition estimates are widely used in clinical research and field studies as measures of energy-nutrient balance, functionality and health. Despite their broad relevance and multiple applications, important gaps remain in techniques available for accurately and precisely quantifying body composition in infants and children from birth through 5 years. Identifying these gaps and highlighting research needs in this age group were the topics of a National Institutes of Health workshop held in Bethesda, MD, USA, 30-31 May 2019. Experts reviewed available methods (multicompartment models, air-displacement plethysmography, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, weight-length and height indices, bioimpedance analysis, anthropometry-skinfold techniques, quantitative magnetic resonance, optical imaging, omics and D3-creatine dilution), their limitations in this age range and high priority research needs. A summary of their individual and collective workshop deliberations is provided in this report.
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Puberty and body composition.
Siervogel, RM, Demerath, EW, Schubert, C, Remsberg, KE, Chumlea, WC, Sun, S, Czerwinski, SA, Towne, B
Hormone research. 2003;(Suppl 1):36-45
Abstract
Body composition during puberty is a marker of metabolic changes that occur during this period of growth and maturation, and, thus, holds key information regarding current and future health. During puberty, the main components of body composition (total body fat, lean body mass, bone mineral content) all increase, but considerable sexual dimorphism exists. Methods for measuring body composition (e.g. densitometry and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) and degree of maturity will be discussed in this review. Components of body composition show age-to-age correlations (i.e. 'tracking'), especially from adolescence onwards. Furthermore, adipose tissue is endocrinologically active and is centrally involved in the interaction between adipocytokines, insulin and sex-steroid hormones, and thus influences cardiovascular and metabolic disease processes. In conclusion, pubertal body composition is important, not only for the assessment of contemporaneous nutritional status, but also for being linked directly to the possible onset of chronic disease later in life and is, therefore, useful for disease risk assessment and intervention early in life.