title: Assessment of body composition, through anthropometric and non-anthropometric methods, of university students from valencia (Spain).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The valuation of anthropometric and nutritional status of the university population is important to detect risk groups and so make nutritional recommendations. The aim of the study was to analyze the body composition and the fat component in a group of university students and to evaluate their basal metabolism to see if there was a correlation with the body composition. The study was carried out through different methods, to determine if the results obtained are comparable.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample were 16 students (4 males and 12 females) from the University of Valencia, 20-33 years old. To all of them was carried out the study of body composition, and to 6 of them was carried out also a metabolic study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was found that 75% of the studied subjects are normal weight, 12,5% are underweight and 12,5% are overweight. The percentage of subjects with body fat higher than the normal values are: 68,75% according to BFMNU, 25% through ISAK method and 7,69% with BIA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study reflected that the data obtained through the different methods are not directly comparable because they are based on different principles and assumptions. It was noticed the importance of considering not only fat mass, but the whole body composition to have a complete picture of the subject. Furthermore, we it was found that Indirect Calorimetry and the predictive equations are not able to estimate it correctly. In contrast BFMNU method is the one that gives more information and allows to thoroughly investigate the metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública. Universitat de València.. olearo@alumni.uv.es.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Olearo
authors.affiliation: Clínica Nutricional. Fundació Lluís Alcanyís - Universitat de València. España.. jose.soriano@uv.es.
authors.forename: Jose Miguel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Soriano Del Castillo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biociencias. Universidad de Milán. Italia.. pietro.boselli@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Pietro Marco
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Boselli
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública. Universitat de València.. lydia.mico@uv.es.
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Micó Pascual
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D001481:Basal Metabolism; D001823:Body Composition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013030:Spain; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult