The use of accurate and reliable methods to assess body composition is critical to understanding the role of adiposity on health and disease throughout the lifespan.<\/p>\n
Beginning with infancy, a greater understanding of how exposures to nutrients, hormones, and environmental factors relate to and influence fat mass increases and fat distribution and the development of diseases later in life can contribute to the development of more effective obesity prevention and treatment strategies.
\nTo accomplish this, researchers need to conduct investigations involving methods that measure total body fat mass and fat distribution directly and with less error. However, the measurement of adiposity in childhood is more often limited to the use of indirect measures that are most feasible in practice, such as anthropometry. The limitations of available body composition measurement methods during childhood are well recognized, and additional research is needed to develop tools and methods that are accurate, reliable, and feasible and which can measure longitudinal changes in body composition throughout the life course. As science and technology evolve in this area, new or improved methods will undoubtably reduce many of the potential limitations of existing methods. Until then, it is important to select the best possible method(s) for the goal of the study and population of interest, taking into consideration and acknowledging the strengths and limitations of available methods, and make proper interpretations of the findings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The use of accurate and reliable methods to assess body composition is critical to understanding the role of adiposity on health and disease throughout the lifespan. Beginning with infancy, a greater understanding of how exposures to nutrients, hormones, and environmental factors relate to and influence fat mass increases and fat distribution and the development of … <\/p>\n