Vol. 85, Issue 4, 1578-1582, October 1998
SPECIAL COMMUNICATION
Determining bone and total body mineral content from body density
and bioelectrical response spectroscopy
Steven F.
Siconolfi1,
Randal J.
Gretebeck2,
William W.
Wong3,
Sheril S.
Moore4, and
John H.
Gilbert III5
1 Neurosciences' Neuromuscular
Laboratory, SD3/Space and Life Sciences Research Laboratories, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration Johnson Space Center, Houston
77058; 3 Stable Isotope
Program, United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural
Research Service Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of
Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston 77030;
4 University Space Research
Association, Houston 77058;
5 Aerospace Consultant
Enterprises, Houston, Texas 77059; and
2 Department of Foods and
Nutrition, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
We hypothesized that one could assess total body
mineral (TBM) and bone mineral content (BMC) from measurements of body
density and bioelectrical response spectroscopy (BRS)-determined total body water by using a three-compartment (3C) model. We compared TBM and
BMC computed from measurements of water
(2H2O
dilution or BRS) and body density (underwater weighing) with [4-compartment (4C)] and without (3C) mineral (dual X-ray
absorptiometry) in 15 women and 16 men. BRS used multifrequency or
single-frequency estimates of water. Mean differences between the 3C
and 4C models ranged from 
6.1 to 2.2%. Correlations between
models were 0.82-0.91. Standard errors of the estimate of
8.5-9.3% were within the range of those previously reported,
i.e., 4.9-13%. Use of BRS did not significantly decrease the
strength of the correlations between the models. A significant mean
difference (only in women) was found only with 3C single-frequency BRS
estimates of TBM and BMC. We concluded that investigators can assess
TBM and BMC 3C multifrequency BRS estimates in men and women.
multicompartment models; body composition; underwater weighing; osteoporosis
