Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)

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Freedman, D.S. et al.

Freedman, Wang, Maynard, Thornton, Mei, Pierson, Dietz, Horlick,

Relation of BMI to fat and fat-free mass among children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Although the body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) is widely used as a surrogate measure of adiposity, it is a measure of excess weight, rather than excess body fat, relative to height. We examined the relation of BMI to levels of fat mass and fat-free mass among healthy 5- to 18-y-olds. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure fat and fat-free mass among 1196 subjects. These measures were standardized for height by calculating the fat mass index ( FMI, fat mass/ht2) and the fat-free mass index (FFMI, fat-free mass/ht2). RESULTS: The variability in FFMI was about 50% of that in FMI, and the accuracy of BMI as a measure of adiposity varied greatly according to the degree of fatness. Among children with a BMI-for-age > or =85th P, BMI levels were strongly associated with FMI (r=0.85-0.96 across sex-age categories). In contrast, among children with a BMI-for-age <50th P, levels of BMI were more strongly associated with FFMI (r=0.56-0.83) than with FMI (r=0.22-0.65). The relation of BMI to fat mass was markedly nonlinear, and substantial differences in fat mass were seen only at BMI levels > or =85th P. DISCUSSION: BMI levels among children should be interpreted with caution. Although a high BMI-for-age is a good indicator of excess fat mass, BMI differences among thinner children can be largely due to fat-free mass.[1]

References

Relation of BMI to fat and fat-free mass among children and adolescents. Freedman, D.S., Wang, J., Maynard, L.M., Thornton, J.C., Mei, Z., Pierson, R.N., Dietz, W.H., Horlick, M. International journal of obesity (2005) (2005) [Pubmed]

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