'Functional' body composition: differentiating between benign and non-benign obesity.
Recent body composition analyses, together with assessments of insulin resistance, aerobic fitness, and intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery, have shown that metabolically-benign obese subjects have a similar BMI, waist circumference, and subcutaneous abdominal fat compared with non-metabolically-benign obese subjects. Research has suggested that 25-30% of the obese population do not need either treatment or prevention of secondary disorders. Therefore, assessment of functional body composition should replace nutritional status-based risk assessments (such as the body mass index) in both metabolic research and clinical decision making. The concept of 'functional' body composition gives us a more sophisticated view on nutritional status, metabolism, endocrinology, and diseases. Knowledge of detailed body composition enables characterization of biomedical traits which will give functional evidence relating genetic variants.
Müller
Manfred J
MJ
Institut für Humanernährung und Lebensmittelkunde, Agrar- und Ernährungswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Düsternbrooker Weg 17-19, D-24105 Kiel, Germany. mmueller@nutrfoodsc.uni-kiel.de
Bosy-Westphal
Anja
A
Heller
Martin
M