K. A. Edmiston

Impact of ethnicity upon body composition assessment in Sri Lankan Australian children

Objectives:  Obesity is a disease with excess body fat where health is adversely affected. Therefore it is prudent to make the diagnosis of obesity based on the measure of percentage body fat. Body composition of a group of Australian children of Sri Lankan origin were studied to evaluate the applicability of some bedside techniques in the measurement of percentage body fat.

Validity of BMI as a measure of obesity in Australian caucasian and Australian Sri Lankan children

BACKGROUND Body mass index (BMI) is used to diagnose obesity. However, its ability to predict the percentage fat mass (%FM) reliably is doubtful. Therefore validity of BMI as a diagnostic tool of obesity is questioned. AIM This study is focused on determining the ability of BMI-based cut-off values in diagnosing obesity among Australian children of white Caucasian and Sri Lankan origin. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Height and weight was measured and BMI (W/H2) calculated. Total body water was determined by deuterium dilution technique and fat free mass and hence fat mass derived using age- and gender-specific constants. A %FM of 30% for girls and 20% for boys was considered as the criterion cut-off level for obesity. BMI-based obesity cut-offs described by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), CDC/NCHS centile charts and BMI-Z were validated against the criterion method. RESULTS There were 96 white Caucasian and 42 Sri Lankan children. Of the white Caucasians, 19 (36%) girls and 29 (66%) boys, and of the Sri Lankans 7 (46%) girls and 16 (63%) boys, were obese based on %FM. The FM and BMI were closely associated in both Caucasians (r=0.81, P<0.001) and Sri Lankans (r=0.92, P<0.001). Percentage FM and BMI also had a lower but significant association. Obesity cut-off values recommended by IOTF failed to detect a single case of obesity in either group. However, NCHS and BMI-Z cut-offs detected cases of obesity with low sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS BMI is a poor indicator of percentage fat and the commonly used cut-off values were not sensitive enough to detect cases of childhood obesity in this study. In order to improve the diagnosis of obesity, either BMI cut-off values should be revised to increase the sensitivity or the possibility of using other indirect methods of estimating the %FM should be explored.

The prediction of total body water using foot to foot bio-electrical impedance in children

The Sixth International Symposium “In Vivo Body Composition Studies” Rome, Italy, October 3-5, 2002 Organizing Committee A. De Lorenzo, Rome E.I. Mohamed, Rome A. Pietrobelli, Verona International Committee President and Chairman: A. De Lorenzo, Italy Members: B.J. Allen, Australia M. Alpsten, Sweden N.C. Battistini, Italy – A. Boulier, France – P. Deurenberg, Singapore – M. Elia, UK – K.J. Ellis, USA – F. Fidanza, Italy – D. Gallagher, USA – D. Glaros, Greece – S.B. Heymsfield, USA – J.J. Kehayias, USA – H.C. Lukaski, USA – S. Mattsson, Sweden – R.N. Pierson Jr., USA – R. Ross, Canada – S.J. Ryde, UK – J.C. Seidell, The Netherlands – O.L. Svendsen, Denmark – G. Testolin, Italy – M. Van Loan, USA – J. Wang, USA – S. Yasumura, USA Local Organizing Committee Division of Human Physiology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy E.I. Mohamed, C. Maiolo, R. Martinoli Conference Secretariat T. Arcidiacono, R. Barberi, L. Luzi, N. D’Orazio To: Gilbert B. Forbes

Validation of foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance in oncology outpatients receiving radiotherpay to the head and neck areas

The Sixth International Symposium “In Vivo Body Composition Studies” Rome, Italy, October 3-5, 2002 Organizing Committee A. De Lorenzo, Rome E.I. Mohamed, Rome A. Pietrobelli, Verona International Committee President and Chairman: A. De Lorenzo, Italy Members: B.J. Allen, Australia M. Alpsten, Sweden N.C. Battistini, Italy – A. Boulier, France – P. Deurenberg, Singapore – M. Elia, UK – K.J. Ellis, USA – F. Fidanza, Italy – D. Gallagher, USA – D. Glaros, Greece – S.B. Heymsfield, USA – J.J. Kehayias, USA – H.C. Lukaski, USA – S. Mattsson, Sweden – R.N. Pierson Jr., USA – R. Ross, Canada – S.J. Ryde, UK – J.C. Seidell, The Netherlands – O.L. Svendsen, Denmark – G. Testolin, Italy – M. Van Loan, USA – J. Wang, USA – S. Yasumura, USA Local Organizing Committee Division of Human Physiology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy E.I. Mohamed, C. Maiolo, R. Martinoli Conference Secretariat T. Arcidiacono, R. Barberi, L. Luzi, N. D’Orazio To: Gilbert B. Forbes