Total Body Nitrogen and Its Relation to Body Potassium and Fat-Free Mass in Healthy Subjects

1981 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Burkinshaw ◽  
D. B. Morgan ◽  
N. P. Silverton ◽  
R. D. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Skinfold Thickness ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Total Body Potassium ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Total Body ◽  
The Individual

1. The amount of lean tissue in the body can be assessed by measuring total body nitrogen, total body potassium or fat-free mass. To compare these techniques we have measured total body nitrogen, total body potassium and fat-free mass in 91 healthy subjects (62 males, 29 females). 2. Total body nitrogen in the women and civilian men agreed closely with the few values reported previously and was closely related to total body potassium and fat-free mass. 3. The simplest estimate of total body nitrogen in a subject whose body content has not been measured is the mean value for healthy people of the same sex. The standard deviation of individual values about this mean is 253 g. The precision of the estimate can be improved considerably by predicting body nitrogen from fat-free mass (156 g) and somewhat more by predicting it from body potassium (115 g). The error of measuring total body nitrogen directly is approximately 76 g. 4. When an individual's total body potassium is measured in a search for potassium depletion, the observed value must be compared with the value expected if the subject were healthy. The standard deviation of the healthy values about the group means is 408 mmol. The precision of the estimate can be improved by predicting total body potassium from fat-free mass (sd 237 mmol), and rather more by predicting it from total body nitrogen (sd 186 mmol). If gross body composition is normal, measurement of total body nitrogen has little advantage over measurement of fat-free mass by the anthropometric technique. 5. These results suggest that the simpler measure of fat-free mass from body weight and skinfold thickness has a major role in the assessment of total body nitrogen, and thus lean body tissue, in the individual.

Mass and composition of the fat-free tissues of patients with weight-loss

1985 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Burkinshaw ◽  
D. B. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Standard Error ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Random Component ◽  
Total Body Potassium ◽  
Random Components ◽  
Total Body ◽  
True Values

1. An estimate of the mass of fat-free tissue in the body can be calculated from body weight and skinfold thickness; this estimate is called the ‘fat-free mass'. Total body potassium and nitrogen are alternative estimates. Factor analysis of data for healthy subjects has defined relationships between the true values of these three quantities and estimated the random component of the variance of each, i.e. the component independent of variations in the mass of fat-free tissue. The results indicated that all three were reliable measures of the mass of fat-free tissue. However, it is not known whether these findings are valid for patients who have lost weight. 2. We have measured the same three quantities in 104 wasted patients with heart disease or disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. The patients’ mean values were significantly less than corresponding values for healthy volunteers. The patients had a mean ratio of total body nitrogen to fat-free mass similar to that of healthy subjects, but lower mean ratios of potassium to fat-free mass and nitrogen. These findings suggest that the potassium content of the patients’ fat-free tissues was abnormally low. 3. Factor analysis of the patients’ data gave relationships between the true values of the three quantities similar to those for healthy subjects; however, total body potassium was 100-300 mmol lower in patients than in healthy subjects with the same fat-free mass or total body nitrogen. 4. Factor analysis also showed that the random components of variance of fat-free mass and total body nitrogen were similar to those in healthy subjects. Therefore, in the patients as in healthy subjects, fat-free mass was as valid a measure of fat-free tissue as the more complex measurement of total body nitrogen. The random component of total body potassium was twice as big as in healthy subjects; however, it formed no greater a proportion of total variance than did the random components of the other two quantities. 5. Total body nitrogen, and hence body protein, could be estimated from measured fat-free mass with a standard error of approximately 136 g (compared with 139 g for healthy individuals), and from total body potassium with a standard error of 129 g (compared with 91 g in healthy subjects).

Estimation of Non-Fat Body Tissues from Measurements of Skinfold Thickness, total Body Potassium and Total Body Nitrogen

1983 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. B. Morgan ◽  
L. Burkinshaw
Keyword(s):  
Fat Body ◽  
Skinfold Thickness ◽  
Statistical Technique ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Variable Component ◽  
Total Body Potassium ◽  
Tissue Mass ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
Total Body ◽  
The Relationship

1. Many previous reports have shown that the ratio of total body potassium to fat-free tissue mass is, on average, higher in men than in women. 2. In an attempt to explain this finding we have re-examined our own data and data taken from the literature. Our own data comprise measurements on 333 healthy people (196 men and 137 women). In all subjects we measured total body potassium and estimated fat-free mass from body weight and skinfold thickness; in 91 of them (62 men and 29 women) we measured, in addition, total body nitrogen. 3. We have used the statistical technique of factor analysis to obtain unbiased estimates of the relationships between the three quantities measured in the smaller group. The validity of the relationships is supported by the results from the larger group and by data from the literature. 4. The average values of total body potassium and fat-free mass are greater in men than in women, but the relationship between the two variables is identical in men and women. The relationship has a positive intercept on the axis of fat-free mass, so that the ratio of total body potassium to fat-free mass increases with fat-free mass. The higher ratio in men compared with women can therefore be explained by a difference in size alone. 5. The relationship between total body potassium and total body nitrogen has a negligible intercept. Therefore the ratio of total body potassium to total body nitrogen does not change with size. 6. These findings suggest that, on average, the fat-free mass is made up of a fixed component of approximately 9 kg of tissue containing no potassium or nitrogen, and a variable component with a potassium to nitrogen ratio of about 1.81 mmol/g.

A Comparison of the Fat-Free Mass of Young Adults Estimated by Anthropometry, Body Density and Total Body Potassium Content

1972 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Womersley ◽  
K. Boddy ◽  
Priscilla C. King ◽  
J. V. G. A. Durnin
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Direct Analysis ◽  
Skinfold Thickness ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Potassium Content ◽  
Body Density ◽  
Total Body Potassium ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Total Body ◽  
Male Subjects

1. The fat-free mass (FFM) of ten male and ten female subjects was calculated from measurement of (i) height and weight, (ii) skinfold thickness, (iii) body density, (iv and v) total body potassium by two different methods. All the subjects were apparently healthy and in the medium range of body build and they were mainly young adults. 2. The mean FFM of the ten male subjects was similar as calculated by all methods, although comparisons between pairs of methods sometimes produced discrepancies of up to 2 kg. 3. Agreement was less good for the females but, with the exception of one of the potassium methods, still reasonable. 4. The potassium content of the FFM as mEq K/kg of FFM, was compared with the direct analysis of Forbes, Gallup & Hursh (1961) on four male cadavers. The agreement was close for the men but the K content of the FFM in women was lower than that for men. This difference is discussed.

Magnitude and variation of ratio of total body potassium to fat-free mass: a cellular level modeling study

2001 ◽  
Vol 281 (1) ◽  
pp. E1-E7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zimian Wang ◽  
F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer ◽  
Donald P. Kotler ◽  
Jack Wang ◽  
Richard N. Pierson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Fat ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Physiological Model ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Total Body Potassium ◽  
Fluid Compartment ◽  
Total Body Fat ◽  
Total Body ◽  
Living Organisms

Potassium is an essential element of living organisms that is found almost exclusively in the intracellular fluid compartment. The assumed constant ratio of total body potassium (TBK) to fat-free mass (FFM) is a cornerstone of the TBK method of estimating total body fat. Although the TBK-to-FFM (TBK/FFM) ratio has been assumed constant, a large range of individual and group values is recognized. The purpose of the present study was to undertake a comprehensive analysis of biological factors that cause variation in the TBK/FFM ratio. A theoretical TBK/FFM model was developed on the cellular body composition level. This physiological model includes six factors that combine to produce the observed TBK/FFM ratio. The ratio magnitude and range, as well as the differences in the TBK/FFM ratio between men and women and variation with growth, were examined with the proposed model. The ratio of extracellular water to intracellular water ( E/I) is the major factor leading to between-individual variation in the TBK/FFM ratio. The present study provides a conceptual framework for examining the separate TBK/FFM determinants and suggests important limitations of the TBK/FFM method used in estimating total body fat in humans and other mammals.

A model for the effect of bias for cholesterol on the population at risk.

1988 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 2256-2259 ◽  
Author(s):  
M H Kroll ◽  
M Ruddel ◽  
R J Elin
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Reference Values ◽  
Gaussian Distribution ◽  
Population Distribution ◽  
Reference Value ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
The Body ◽  
Methodological Bias ◽  
The Mean

Abstract The location of the Reference Value for an analyte within the population distribution affects the magnitude of error due to methodological bias. Using the gaussian distribution, we evaluated the effects of systematic and proportional biases of the method (positive and negative), mean value, and standard deviation on the magnitude of error. We chose four Reference Values for cholesterol as a model. For a population with a mean of 2.0 and SD of 0.36 g of cholesterol per liter, a 3% positive proportional bias causes sixfold more error at the 50th percentile than at the 97.5th. In general, the error for a given bias (proportional or systematic) is greater for a Reference Value within the body than at the tails of the distribution. Further, the magnitude of the error varies as a function of the mean and standard deviation of the population.

Longitudinal studies on adipose tissue and its distribution in human subjects

1975 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 825-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Chien ◽  
M. T. Peng ◽  
K. P. Chen ◽  
T. F. Huang ◽  
C. Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adipose Tissue ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Water Immersion ◽  
Skinfold Thickness ◽  
Total Body Potassium ◽  
Body Adiposity ◽  
Hydrostatic Weighing ◽  
Skinfold Measurements ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Total Body

On 27 men and 6 women, total body density and 10 skinfolds were measured 12 yr apart, with the mean age increasing from 31 to 43 yr. The increase in skinfold thickness was found to be related to the increase in total body adiposity, calculated from hydrostatic weighing. The external adipose tissue was calculated from the mean skinfold thickness and body surface area. Variations in total adiposity among the population studied as well as changes in total adiposity with age showed a characteristic distribution with approximately two-thirds on the surface and one-third in the interior. The essential body mass or total adipose mass determined by hydrostatic weighing was compared with the values obtained by water-immersion volumetry, total body potassium counting, and skinfold measurements. Teh volumetric and skinfold determinations gave better estimates of these parameters than total body potassium counting.

scholarly journals Internal consistency of the Regional Brewer Calibration Centre for Europe triad during the period 2005–2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 4059-4072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Fabián León-Luis ◽  
Alberto Redondas ◽  
Virgilio Carreño ◽  
Javier López-Solano ◽  
Alberto Berjón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Relative Standard Deviation ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Relative Standard ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Ozone Column

Abstract. Total ozone column measurements can be made using Brewer spectrophotometers, which are calibrated periodically in intercomparison campaigns with respect to a reference instrument. In 2003, the Regional Brewer Calibration Centre for Europe (RBCC-E) was established at the Izaña Atmospheric Research Center (Canary Islands, Spain), and since 2011 the RBCC-E has transferred its calibration based on the Langley method using travelling standard(s) that are wholly and independently calibrated at Izaña. This work is focused on reporting the consistency of the measurements of the RBCC-E triad (Brewer instruments #157, #183 and #185) made at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory during the period 2005–2016. In order to study the long-term precision of the RBCC-E triad, it must be taken into account that each Brewer takes a large number of measurements every day and, hence, it becomes necessary to calculate a representative value of all of them. This value was calculated from two different methods previously used to study the long-term behaviour of the world reference triad (Toronto triad) and Arosa triad. Applying their procedures to the data from the RBCC-E triad allows the comparison of the three instruments. In daily averages, applying the procedure used for the world reference triad, the RBCC-E triad presents a relative standard deviation equal to σ = 0.41 %, which is calculated as the mean of the individual values for each Brewer (σ157 = 0.362 %, σ183 = 0.453 % and σ185 = 0.428 %). Alternatively, using the procedure used to analyse the Arosa triad, the RBCC-E presents a relative standard deviation of about σ = 0.5 %. In monthly averages, the method used for the data from the world reference triad gives a relative standard deviation mean equal to σ = 0.3 % (σ157 = 0.33 %, σ183 = 0.34 % and σ185 = 0.23 %). However, the procedure of the Arosa triad gives monthly values of σ = 0.5 %. In this work, two ozone data sets are analysed: the first includes all the ozone measurements available, while the second only includes the simultaneous measurements of all three instruments. Furthermore, this paper also describes the Langley method used to determine the extraterrestrial constant (ETC) for the RBCC-E triad, the necessary first step toward accurate ozone calculation. Finally, the short-term or intraday consistency is also studied to identify the effect of the solar zenith angle on the precision of the RBCC-E triad.

Hydration of fat-free body in protein-depleted patients

1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (2) ◽  
pp. E227-E233 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Beddoe ◽  
S. J. Streat ◽  
G. L. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Cell Mass ◽  
Protein A ◽  
Extracellular Fluid ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fat Free Mass ◽  
Body Protein ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Free Body ◽  
Fluid Compartments ◽  
Total Body

It is widely believed that increased hydration of the fat-free body accompanies most major disease processes as a result of contraction of the body cell mass and expansion of the extracellular fluid. Measurements of total body water (TBW) and total body nitrogen in 68 normal volunteers and 95 surgical ward patients presenting for intravenous nutrition have been used to derive ratios of TBW to fat-free mass (TBW:FFM) and protein indices (PI), where PI is defined as the ratio of measured total body protein to predicted TBP. Mean values of PI were 1.009 +/- 0.116 (SD) and 0.783 +/- 0.152 in the normal and patient groups, respectively, corresponding to mean TBW:FFM ratios of 0.719 +/- 0.016 and 0.741 +/- 0.029. However, 48 patients had normal TBW:FFM despite having lost 15% of body protein. A theoretical model of body composition changes in catabolic illness is presented, which is in accord with the patient data, demonstrating that TBW:FFM does not necessarily increase in catabolic illness and that the ratio masks underlying shifts in body fluid compartments.

scholarly journals The origin and destiny of cholesterol in the animal organism. Part XIV—The cholesterol metabolism in normal breast fed infants

1925 ◽  
Vol 98 (687) ◽  
pp. 76-92 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cholesterol Metabolism ◽  
Normal Breast ◽  
The Body ◽  
Average Output ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Adult Men ◽  
Average Intake ◽  
Negative Balance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Breast Fed

In Part XII (1921) of this series of papers, we gave an account of our investigations on the cholesterol balance of normal adult men fed on a known and carefully controlled diet. In the 26 cases examined the average intake of cholesterol per day was 0∙253 grm. and the average output 0∙56 grm. The average negative balance was thus 0∙307 grm. per day, the individual values varying between +0∙05 (1 case) and —0∙9. From these experiments we were led to the conclusion that since cholesterol is an integral constituent of all cells of the body and there is an excess of output over intake, there must be some organ in the body capable of synthesising cholesterol. .

scholarly journals Measuring the body composition of elderly subjects: a comparison of methods

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Reilly ◽  
L. A. Murray ◽  
J. Wilson ◽  
J. V. G. A. Durnin
Keyword(s):  
Body Composition ◽  
Total Body Water ◽  
Body Water ◽  
The Body ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Total Body ◽  
The Individual

There is a paucity of data on differences between methods for the assessment of body composition in elderly subjects. Studies on younger adults suggest that such differences are of some practical significance at the individual level. In the present study the following methods of estimating percentage body fatness (BF%) were compared in healthy elderly men and women (mean age 70 (SD 6) years: densitometry; skinfold thickness; total body water; bioelectrical impedance (BIA) using an age-specific predictive equation and the manufacturers' equation; body mass index (BMI). Though BF% estimates from the various methods tended to be highly correlated with those from densitometry and with each other, differences between methods at the individual level were marked. In particular, the age-specific equations based on BMI and BIA systematically overestimated BF% relative to the other methods. Biases between BF% estimates derived from densitometry, skinfolds, BIA (manufacturers' equation) and total body water were less marked, indicating little evidence of systematic differences between these methods in elderly subjects. Individual differences between methods were slightly greater than those reported in some studies of younger adults, but this may be of little practical significance, and may be considered inevitable in view of variability between and within subjects in the extent to which the underlying assumptions of these two-component methods are met in elderly subjects.

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