The Significance of Body Composition on Overall Health, Disease, & Fitness
Along with strength, power, speed, endurance, flexibility, balance, and agility, body composition hands down plays an important role in physical fitness. It is not often you see athletes who are carrying extra body fat and are able to gracefully move up and down the field or court. Body composition is just what you think it is. It is your lean body mass and your fat mass combined. In fact, to be a bit more clinical it is the ratio of fat mass (FM) to fat free mass (FFM). We all need essential fat on our bodies and it plays a significant role in a myriad of functions throughout the body, including the formation of cell membranes,building hormones, support to organs (especially the brain and muscles!), and plays a role in the anti inflammatory process.(omega 3 fats). So fat coming into the body as a macronutrient is essential. 30% of your overall calories should be coming from fat- especially if you're engaged in physical activity, sport, or structured exercise- which we all should be engaged in! Developing a healthy body composition not only requires a diet that meets your physiological needs but also an exercise program of three to five days a week that incorporates a balance of aerobic (walking, running, cycling, rowing, circuit training), and anaerobic fitness (resistance training with body, bands, weights, or machines). 30 minutes 5 times a week or 50 minutes 3 times a week provides all the health benefits and keeps your body composition in a healthy ratio.
Males and females have a different proportion of body composition. Males typically have greater lean tissue while females have greater essential fat. The increased essential body fat for women is necessary to meet the hormonal and reproductive needs that females have. If fact, if essential fat is too low in females they can develop amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), hormone disruption, loss of energy, and even osteopenia (loss of bone tissue) over time. Female athletes such as runners, gymnasts, and dancers are most at risk for loss of essential fat.
Body fat that is central (‘Apple shaped’) has been proven to increase one’s risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Coincidentally, those are the top two killers in this country. Males tend to carry more of an apple shape while females tend to carry more of a pear shaped distribution of body fat. Males have been shown to also have a higher prevalence of visceral fat (fat around organs) while females have a higher amount of subcutaneous (under the skin) fat- especially around the hips and thighs. Increased fat around the hips and thighs (‘pear shaped’) has not been shown to increase risk of chronic disease, but if body weight is excessive then this will add stress to the lower extremity and possibly increase the risk of osteoarthritis of the hips and knees.
Distribution of body composition with gender: Body fat distribution and role of chronic disease
A healthy body fat percentage in males is 14-17% and in females is 21-25%. Athletes will have lower body fat (6-13% in males and 14-20% in females) as this body composition helps to improve the other fitness factors- especially speed and endurance. If body fat is too low in the athlete this may negatively impact overall strength. Remember, essential body fat plays a role in hormone production and if it is too low, testosterone levels and strength decline.
There are different ways to measure body composition and some are more accurate than others. Many are expensive and have to be done by a professional. Others are cheap and somewhat effective. Height/ weight charts and BMI does not provide specific information about body composition but may give you an idea where you fall under the “norm” for body weight. They can be skewed because they don't take into account how much lean tissue one has. For instance, if you are an athlete who is 6’1” and weighs 220 lbs but are very muscular, this value may be considered obese in the BMI scale. That is why the BMI scale is not the best measure for everyone but is still useful as a predictor for chronic disease or health complications.
BMI scale: predictor of risk of disease or health complications
The following is a link to calculate your body mass index. Remember, this is an estimation of your risk for disease. It will not calculate body fat, but rather place you in a category of either being ‘underweight’, ‘normal weight, ‘overweight’, or ‘obese’: In fact the CDC has now split obesity into three separate classifications. Obese I, II, and III.
Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator
As far as body composition goes, I prefer body fat calipers for skinfold thickness. It is cheap, pretty accurate (in experienced hands) and easy to plug into formula to determine body composition. The trained instructor gently pinches body fat in several different regions of the body and enters these values into gender specific formulas. Body fat and lean mass is then calculated. This can help guide someone with an exercise program. The downside is that it is not accurate for people who have excess body fat, and quite frankly, who wants their fat pinched by someone else! I find that the population most interested in obtaining body fat percentage by this method is the athletic population. That makes sense as they often feel comfortable with this process as their fat is usually lower.
Skinfold caliper to waist and abdomen
Girth or circumference measurements are probably the easiest way for someone to get an estimate of their body composition from home. Girth measurements are taken at the waist, hips, and neck and then plugged into a circumference formula to determine body composition. It is not a bad estimate but again can be thrown off by muscle mass. This can be done by yourself in the privacy of your own home with no one else pinching your body fat! The link below shows you how to calculate your body composition by finding circumference values for your waist, hips, and neck.
https://www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html
To conclude, body composition is what the body is composed of. It certainly plays a role in all aspects of health, fitness and disease. It is important to have a healthy body composition (not too much or too little) as this helps the body to function at its highest level metabolically and functionally. People have different body composition make ups. Some of it is genetics and most of it is environmental. How much activity we get on a consistent basis and a diet that is healthy are our best safeguards against unhealthy body composition. Unhealthy body composition not only slows you down but leads you down a path of destruction. Heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoarthritis to name a few will destroy the fabric you are made of and place you and your loved ones in dire circumstances. The message is simple- get moving and do it often. Try different exercises and physical activities and make it fun. Add it up to at least 150 minutes a week and your body composition will change and your mind and body will thank you! Consult a personal trainer for extra guidance if need be. Remember to always consult your sports chiropractic practitioner for counsel, guidance, and treatment if you are overdoing it. Regular treatments are always encouraged to be pain free and performing optimally during your exercise program.
