Journal Article

Anthropometric body fat composition reference values in Spanish adolescents. The AVENA Study

Moreno, L.A, Fleta, J, Wärnberg, J, Bueno, M, Ruiz, J.R, Mesana, M.I, Sarría, A, Marcos, A, Gil, C.M, González-Gross, M

2006

Overview

Objective: To determine reference values for body mass index (BMI), sum of six skinfolds (6 skinfolds) and body fat percentage (BF%) in Spanish adolescents aged 13-18 years, included in the AVENA Study (Alimentación y Valoración del Estado Nutricional en Adolescentes: Food and Assessment of the Nutritional Status of Adolescents). Design: Multicentre cross-sectional study. Setting: Representative sample of Spanish adolescents. Subjects: The population was selected by means of a multiplestep, simple random sampling. The final number of subjects included in the AVENA Study was 2859 adolescents; 2160 adolescents had a complete set of anthropometric measurements and were then included in this study (1109 males and 1051 females). Interventions: Weight, height and six skinfold thicknesses were measured. As indices of total adiposity, we calculated BMI, sum 6 skinfolds and BF% with the formulas described by Slaughter et al. Results: sum 6 skinfolds and BF% in each age group were significantly higher in females than in males. In males, age showed a significant effect for BMI, sum 6 skinfolds and BF%; however, in females, the effect was only significant for BF%. The percentile distribution was more disperse towards higher sum 6 skinfolds and BF% values in males when compared with females. Conclusions: The presented percentile values will help us to classify adolescents in comparison with a well-established reference population, and to estimate the proportion of adolescents with high or low adiposity amounts. Sponsorship: The AVENA-Study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS 00/0015), and grants from Panrico SA, Madaus SA and Procter and Gamble SA. This study was also supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain), RCESP (C03/09) and Spanish Ministry of Education (AP2003-2128).

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Adipose Tissue / Adipose Tissue - metabolism / Adolescent / adolescent nutrition / Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Adolescents / Age Distribution / Age groups / Alimentacion y Valoracion del Estado Nutritional n Adolescentes / anthropometric measurements / Anthropometry / AVENA Study / Biological and medical sciences / Body Composition / Body Composition - physiology / Body fat / Body Mass Index / Body measurements / Body size / body weight / boys / classification / Clinical Nutrition / Cross-Sectional Studies / Epidemiology / etiology / Female / Females / Food and Assessment of the Nutritional Status of Adolescents / gender differences / girls / Humans / Internal Medicine / Male / Males / Medical sciences / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Metabolic Diseases / metabolism / Nutrition assessment / Nutritional status / Obesity / Obesity - classification / Obesity - etiology / original-article / physiology / Public Health / Random sampling / reference standards / Reference Values / Sex differences / Sex Distribution / Skinfold Thickness / Spain / Statistical sampling / Teenagers / Thickness measurement