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ABOUT BODY COMPOSITION
1. Body Composition
Human body consists of body fat and lean body. Lean body means non-fat constituents of human
body like body water, muscles, mineral, etc.
Body water is divided into intra- and extra-cellular water and the ratio between them is controlled
and maintained within a certain range. Body fat is piled beneath the skin and between abdominal
organs. Body fat is hydrolyzed to make energy needed to normal physiological function when
energy supply through food intake is not sufficient, but excessive fat in the body itself is a kind of
disease and causes lifestyle diseases.
Healthy people maintain the balance of body composition in a steady proportion but unhealthy
people persons fail to keep this balance. When the balance in body composition is broken,
diseases like obesity, malnutrition, osteoporosis, etc. can be caused.
2. Obesity
Various methods can be used to assess obesity but the key factor in obesity assessment is the
amount of fat accumulated in the body.
In general, obesity is defined as the state of not only excessive weight compared with height
(visible obese) but also excessive body fat compared with weight (invisible or visible obese).
Strictly speaking obesity is the state that body fat occupies considerably high ratio to weight.
3. Necessity of Body Composition Analysis
Body Composition Analysis is a good indicator in finding possible health problems. Body
composition analysis enables professionals to find obesity or imbalance in body composition at
an early stage and helps subjects keep their body healthy.
4. Waist to hip ratio
Waist to hip ratio (W.H.R.) shows the distribution of fat stored in one’s abdomen and hip. It is
simple but useful to assess body fat distribution. Body fat is stored in two distinct ways. They are
often categorized into and called 'apple' and 'pear' type. Apple type shows bigger girth of waist
than hip and pear type has bigger girth of hip than waist. If body fat in abdomen increases more,
the risk to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. becomes higher.
Summary of Contents for BC360
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