The Tanita SC-240 to Assess Body Composition in Pre-School Children: An Evaluation against the Three Component Model.
Quick, easy-to-use, and valid body composition measurement options for young children are needed. Therefore, we evaluated the ability of the bioelectrical impedance (BIA) device, Tanita SC-240, to measure fat mass (FM), fat free mass (FFM) and body fatness (BF%) in 40 healthy, Swedish 5.5 years old children against the three component model (3C model). Average BF%, FM, and FFM for BIA were: 19.4% ± 3.9%, 4.1 ± 1.9 kg, and 16.4 ± 2.4 kg and were all significantly different (p < 0.001) from corresponding values for the 3C model (25.1% ± 5.5%, 5.3 ± 2.5 kg, and 15.2 ± 2.0 kg). Bland and Altman plots had wide limits of agreement for all body composition variables. Significant correlations ranging from 0.81 to 0.96 (p < 0.001) were found for BF%, FM, and FFM between BIA and the 3C model. When dividing the children into tertiles for BF%, 60% of children were classified correctly by means of BIA. In conclusion, the Tanita SC-240 underestimated BF% in comparison to the 3C model and had wide limits of agreement. Further work is needed in order to find accurate and easy-to-use methods for assessing body composition in pre-school children.
Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden. christine.delisle.nystrom@ki.se.
Christine
C
Delisle Nyström
PROmoting FITness and Health through Physical Activity Research Group (PROFITH), 18071 Granada, Spain. pontus.tm.henriksson@gmail.com.|Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, Linkoping University, 581 83 Link&#246;ping, Sweden. pontus.tm.henriksson@gmail.com.
Pontus
P
Henriksson
Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden. alexandrou81@gmail.com.
Christina
C
Alexandrou
Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden. marie.lof@ki.se.|Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, Linkoping University, 581 83 Link&#246;ping, Sweden. marie.lof@ki.se.
Marie
M
Löf
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017097:Electric Impedance; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013548:Sweden; D044465:White People
Tanita SC-240; bioelectrical impedance; pre-school; three component model