https://escholarship.org/content/qt6mh9f4nf/qt6mh9f4nf.pdf?t=p0hi9u

Body composition from fluid spaces and density: analysis of methods. 1961

One can trace to Archimedes the idea that in a system consisting of two additive components which are mixed but the densities of which are known ( d l , d 2 ) , the determination of the density of the system ( D ) allows one to calculate the proportional masses of the two components. Let’s denote these components as W1 and W2.S Then, in a system with total weight W = W1 + Wz, the general equation for calculating component W1 expressed as a fraction (w1) of the total body weight is:

Densitometric analysis of body composition: revision of some quantitative assumptions*

The gross composition of the body.

fold thickness. A simple method of assessing quantitatively the fat content of the human body, which could be used not only in laboratories and in hospital, but in field studies and in general medical practice, would be invaluable. Methods in use at present, based on measurements of body density, body water or body potassium, can be applied only in the laboratory and usually to small numbers of subjects. Several previous papers have suggested relationships between one of the accepted methods of determining body fat and a simpler technique which could be widely applied. As early as 1921, Matiegka (1921) formulated an equation for calculating body fat from measurements of surface area and six skinfold thicknesses. Brotek & Keys (1951) were the first to use the relationship between skinfold thickness and body density for assessing fat content. The skinfolds chosen were not ideal and their formula has not been widely used. Pascale, Grossman, Sloane & Frankel (1956) in the USA produced an equation, and PaPizkovL (1961 a) in Czechoslovakia a nomogram, for predicting fat content from skinfold thicknesses. Steinkamp, Cohen, Gaffey, McKay, Bron, Siri, Sargent & Isaacs (196 j) gave predictive equations based on measurements of body circumferences and skinfold thicknesses on 167 subjects in California. The only comparable attempt on a British population, to our knowledge, is a study on twenty-four hospital patients, measurements being made of total body water and skinfold thickness (Fletcher, 1962). Information about a wide range of body types in population groups in Britain is required. The present paper describes a study on 105 young adults and 86 adolescents. By means of results from measurements by anthropometry including skinfold thicknesses and body density, an attempt has been made to formulate simple equations for the prediction of the quantity of fat in the body. The subjects were of varying body build-thin, intermediate, plump, but very few were obese.

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The assessment of the amount of fat in the human body from measurements of skinfold thickness

Indices of relative weight and obesity

The fundamental biologic determination of corporeal specific gravity, essentially a relationship between weight and unit volume, has been neglected in the modern classification of healthy persons. Stern 1 and Spivak 2 emphasized the value of the measurement of corporeal density, but their experimental data are not conclusive. Of especial interest is the relationship between specific gravity and the fat content of the body. The presence of an indeterminate amount of excess adipose tissue renders difficult any precise computation, for example, of metabolic rate or dosage of drugs in terms of total body weight. The important consideration should be the weight of the lean body representing the active mass of protoplasm. In this paper the data support the concept that the comparatively low specific gravity of fat makes the measurement of the specific gravity of the body mass valid for the estimation of fat content. The comprehensive, statistical analysis of Boyd,

The specific gravity of healthy men: body weight ÷ volume as an index of obesity

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.1550-8528.1995.tb00152.x

B. G. Feen

Papers

The specific gravity of healthy men: body weight ÷ volume as an index of obesity

The specific gravity of healthy men. Body weight divided by volume as an index of obesity. 1942.