Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | H | Harvard Health Letter

Measuring how fat we are.

Article Excerpt
Measuring how fat we are

Weighing the pros and cons of three measures of adiposity.

Most of us have our private ways of assessing how fat we are. We feel the pants getting snug * or loose, if we're lucky. We take a glance in the mirror or at our reflection in the shopfront window.

Of course, there are more objective ways of answering the question. Plain old weight is a good clue, but it's a total that includes bones, muscles, organs, hair * not just fat. The tried-and-true way of measuring just fat involves getting weighed while fully submerged in water. The difference between your weight in water and your regular weight is used to calculate body density, and from that, the proportion of the body that's fat. But few of us are going to subject ourselves to regular dunking.

There are other, easier tests: bioelectric impedance, skinfold testing with calipers, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (the same technology used to measure bone density). Gyms and fitness centers are beginning to offer some of these. They'll satisfy the curious, but they're neither necessary nor practical for routine use.

That leaves us with three more common options. By now, most people are familiar with the calculation known as body mass index. Waist circumference is a hot topic as it becomes clear that it's the fat we carry inside our abdomens that's most metabolically active and harmful. And waist-to-hip ratio is getting a second look because of research showing that the fat under our skin * subcutaneous fat * may have some benefits. Here is a guide of these three measures of our fatness,...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!