ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Young people who study physical education are a priori regarded as having proper body structure and body composition. This assumption cannot be confirmed in the subject literature. AIM OF THE STUDY: To determine the basic auxological parameters in youth who study physical education. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 235 first-year students studying physical education were examined: 32% women (n=74) and 68% men (n=161). The students' body height, weight, waist, and hip circumference were measured. Body composition (bioimpedance method), specifying the body fat percentage (FM%) and fat free mass (FFM%) was also assessed. RESULTS: The mean normalized height of the female body was 0.48±1.07 SDS, and for the male body 0.51±1.04 SDS. The mean normalized weight for women was 0.4±0.94 SDS, and for men it was 0.83±0.9 SDS. The mean fat percentage in the body composition of women and men was, respectively, 21.5±5.06, ranging from 10.16% to 35.06%, and 12.5±3.97, ranging from 4.36% to 22.28%. In one-third of the women, the percentage of fat in the body composition was higher than 25%. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Young people who choose to study physical education and physical culture are characterized by greater height and greater body weight than the general population, regardless of gender. 2. Short persons study physical education less often than tall individuals. 3. The greater body weight observed in the majority of students studying physical education, in comparison to that of the general population, was caused by a dominant percentage of lean body mass in body composition; unexpectedly, however, some women were observed to have relatively high fat content. 4. Use of the body mass index and waist-hip ratio was not a sufficiently sensitive screening examination to detect fatness in physically active young adults; therefore, it should not substitute for the determination of fat content in body composition.
Subject(s)
Body Height , Body Weight , Health Status , Physical Education and Training , Students/statistics & numerical data , Anthropometry , Body Composition , Body Mass Index , Female , Humans , Male , Poland , Universities , Young AdultABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Body composition analysis is essential in assessing the nutritional status, as well as the risk of developing diseases associated with abnormal body fat content. At present, many methods are available to measure the amount and distribution of body fat. Among them, of particular importance are those methods that are simple, do not require expensive equipment and allow the assessment of the body composition of a large number of people (population study). However, previous observations show that they provide different results, and, therefore, further analysis and comparisons should be conducted in different age, sex and body composition groups. AIM OF THE STUDY: The goal was to compare the anthropometric and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) methods used to assess body composition in young women and men. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 65 women and 109 men, physical education students, took part in the study. Average chronological age of the women was 20.5±3.1 years and men 19.9±1.4 years. Body weight, height and thickness of 4 skinfolds (SF; over the biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac) were measured. The percentage of body fat in the anthropometric method was calculated using the Durnin and Womersley's equation. Assessment of body composition was also made by the BIA method. All the measurements in every person were made on the same day. RESULTS: The mean BMI was 21.4±1.9 in women and 23.9±2.4 in men. The mean percentage of body fat obtained by anthropometric method was 16.7±7.1% in women and 10.2±6.6% in men. The amount of body fat estimated by the BIA method was higher than that calculated by skinfold thickness among female students by about 5% (p <0.001), while for male students by 3% (p <0.001). The correlation coefficients between the anthropometric method and BIA method for women and men were 0.448 (p <0.05) and 0.380 (p <0.05), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The anthropometric and BIA methods provide different results of body fat content, especially in women, so they should not be used interchangeably.
