Relation between body composition and age in healthy Japanese subjects

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 55; no. 6; pp. 462 - 470
• Main Authors: ITO, H, OHSHIMA, A, OHTO, N, OGASAWARA, M, TSUZUKI, M, TAKAO, K, HIJII, C, TANAKA, H, NISHIOKA, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing 01.06.2001; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Absorptiometry, Photon; Adipose Tissue; Adult; Adults; Age; Age Distribution; Age Factors; Aged; Aging; Aging - physiology; Asian people; Biological and medical sciences; Body composition; Body Composition - physiology; Body fat; Body Mass Index; Body size; Bone Density - physiology; Bone mass; Bone mineral content; Bone mineral density; Clinical nutrition; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demographic aspects; Development. Metamorphosis. Moult. Ageing; Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; Female; Females; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health promotion; Hip; Humans; Japan; Male; Males; Middle Aged; Muscular system; Nutrition; Obesity; Sarcopenia; Sex Characteristics; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Japan; Human; Healthy subject; Ageing; Dual energy absorptiometry; Japanese; Time variation; Age; Body composition
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601206

To describe the relation between body composition and age measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in healthy Japanese adults. Cross-sectional study. The subjects were 2411 healthy Japanese adults (males 625, females 1786, age 20--79 y) who attended the Fukuoka Health Promotion Center, Fukuoka, Japan for health check-up. Body composition was determined by DXA (QDR-2000, Hologic) for the whole body and three anatomical regions of arms, legs and trunk. The mean values of body mass index (BMI) and percentage fat mass (%FM) were 23.2+/-3.1 (s.d.) kg/m(2) and 21.8+/-6.8% for males and 22.1+/-3.3 kg/m(2) and 32.0+/-7.5% for females, respectively. For males, curvilinear relations with the peaks in their forties or fifties were seen for the variables associated adiposity, ie BMI, waist and hip circumference, waist-hip ratio, total or regional fat mass (FM), %FM and ratio of trunk FM to leg FM. For females, most of these variables increased linearly in older subjects. Lean mass (LM), bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) of the whole body and appendicular LM were relatively constant until the forties and then decreased in both sexes. The rates of decrease in the total or appendicular LM were larger for males than for females, whereas those in BMC or BMD were larger for females than for males. This study presents the first detailed data on body composition in Japanese, which may be useful when comparing with populations of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and studying ill subjects.