title: Assessment of body fat and lean in the elderly by measuring body carbon and oxygen: validation against hydrodensitometry.
abstract: Based on the observation that the carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) in tissue is a measure of fat content, we developed a model which correlates C/O to percent body fat. Carbon and oxygen mass and their ratio are measured in vivo by fast neutron inelastic scattering, using a miniature D-T neutron generator, at a radiation exposure of less than 0.06 mSv. We tested the validity of this model against hydrodensitometry with 19 healthy adult volunteers. The method was found to be accurate and insensitive to assumptions about the composition of lean tissue and, therefore, appropriate for studying the elderly and patients with catabolic conditions.
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition, Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kehayias
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dowling
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D003720:Densitometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009502:Neutrons; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; D010100:Oxygen