RESUMO
Underwater weighing is based on the assumption that fat-free body density is roughly constant among humans. This assumption should be examined, because fat-free body density may in fact depend on the bone mineral and water contents of the body, with fat excluded. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD) on the accuracy of body fat measured underwater. The subjects were 12 young men (25.1±3.7 years, mean ± SD), some of whom were trained athletes. BMC and BMD were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), as was body fat, as a percentage of body weight; this method is not based on the assumption that fat-free body density is the same in different individual. Body fat as a percen tage of body weight was measured underwater, also. Body fat measured by DXA was significantly correlated with that found by underwater weighing (r = 0.83, p<0.01), as expected, but the mean body fat found by DXA was 4.3% higher. The differences between results by the two methods for individuals were from -11.5% to 2.7%, and the differences were negatively correlated with BMC/fat-free weight (FFW ; r=-0.82, p < 0.01) and BMD (r=-0.85, p<0.01) . Fat-free body density ranged from 1.097 to 1.111 g/cm<SUP>3</SUP>because BMC/FFWs varied with the individual. We concluded that individual differences in BMC/FFW and BMD affected the fat-free body density. The variations in fat-free body density would give rise to systematic errors in body composition measured underwater.