Assessment of Body Composition, Fat Mass, Fat-Free Mass and Percent of Body Fat among Rural School Children of Northeastern India

Abstract

Recently recognized important indicators of body composition are fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM) and percent body fat (PBF). The aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine body composition of the pre-adolescent children by using FM, FFM, and PBF. This study was performed using data from 584 children (281 boys and 303 girls) aged 6–10 years of Ahom descent from upper Assam state, Northeast India. Four anthropometric measurements i.e. height, weight, skinfold at triceps (TSF) and sub-scapular (SSF) were taken to calculate FM, FFM, FMI, FFMI, PBF, PBF for age (PBFZ), body mass index(BMI). Age-specific mean values of FM ranged from 2.12–4.00 kg (boys) and 2.16–4.40 kg (girls) and the agespecific mean values of FFM ranged from 14.45–23.93 kg (boys) and 14.01–23.03 kg (girls). The highest PBF value was observed at the age of 6 years for both groups of the children while the lowest value was observed at the age of 10 years and 9 years for boys and girls respectively. Sex-specific mean differences between sexes were statistically significant in SSF, PBF, FM, and FMI. For future investigations in clinical and epidemiological studies, these results are very important as they can be used to identify the risk of lower or higher adiposity and body composition using PBF, FM, and FFM.