Body composition of Cameroonian lactating women determined by anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance, and deuterium dilution

• Published in: Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.) Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 414 - 419
• Main Authors: Medoua, Gabriel Nama, Nana, Estelle Sajo, Essa’a, Véronique J., Ntsama, Patricia M., Matchawe, Chelea, Rikong, Honorine Adie, Essame Oyono, Jean Louis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.04.2011; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue; Adult; Anthropometry; Anthropometry - methods; Bias; Bias (Epidemiology); Bioelectrical impedance; Biological and medical sciences; Body Composition; Body fat; Body mass index; body water; Breastfeeding & lactation; Cameroon; Children & youth; Deuterium; Deuterium dilution; diagnostic use; Electric Impedance; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastroenterology and Hepatology; Humans; Impedance; Indicator Dilution Techniques; Lactating women; Lactation; lean body mass; Mathematics; Mathematics - methods; methods; Milk; Skinfold Thickness; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Young Adult; Cameroon; Lactating women; Deuterium dilution; Body composition; Bioelectrical impedance; Skinfold thickness; Deuterium; Human; Anthropometry; Vertebrata; Dilution; Mammalia; Female; Impedance
• ISSN: 0899-9007; 1873-1244; 1873-1244
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.09.008

This study compared body composition estimates using deuterium dilution, multiple-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and skinfold thickness techniques in a group of Cameroonian lactating women. Body fat, fat-free mass, and total body water in 44 Cameroonian lactating women (2.63 ± 1.31 mo postpartum) were assessed by deuterium dilution, the Siri or black-specific derived Durnin-Womerley equation, and 12 BIA-prediction equations developed in samples of subjects of white, black, black-and-white, or unspecified racial background, respectively. Compared with deuterium dilution, anthropometry and BIA-based predictive equations overestimated body fat by 2.7 to 11.7 kg; thus, fat-free mass and total body water were underestimated. In all cases, the significant biases resulted in large 95% limits of agreement, yielding unacceptable potential bias at the level of the individual. However, the exclusion of suprailiac skinfold in the calculation, yielding to non-significant ( P < 0.05) bias, improved the prediction of body composition in Cameroonian lactating women using the Durnin-Womersley and Siri equations. It is essential to adjust the Durnin-Womersley equation before using it in the Siri equation for the prediction of body composition in lactating women. Further development and cross-validation of prediction equations from BIA specific to lactating women is needed.