Anthropometric comparison of muscular and obese men

¹ U. S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory and San Francisco Institute of Medical Sciences, Presbyterian Medical Center, San Francisco, California

Body weight is frequently too gross as a reference base for physiologic parameters. Adequate techniques are available to measure such components as water and fat, but these procedures are time consuming and require special apparatus. The high correlation, however, between anthropometric circumferences, stature, and body weight makes possible a partition of weight into components, W(A) and W(B). In obese men it can be shown that the "trunk" W(A) component greatly exceeds the weight of W(B) referable chiefly to the extremities. In athletes, W(B) exceeds W(A). The average of W(A) and W(B) closely approximates body weight. From the anthropometric perimeters it is possible to calculate d values which can be used to construct a somatogram to provide quantitative representation of bodily configuration. The technique for procurement of the anthropometric data can be carried out on large numbers of individuals in minimal time and requires only a tape measure.