[Therapeutic assessment of childhood obesity with body composition measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis]

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the changes in body composition, such as body fat mass (F) and lean body mass (LBM), after the treatment of obesity with a low calorie balanced diet (LCBD) in out patient clinics. Body composition was measured by a bioelectrical impedance analysis (RJL Systems, Detroit, Michigan, USA). 67 patients with over 30% of obesity index (OI), 36 males and 31 females, aged 3-15 years old were studied. 41% of the males and 13% of the females showed an increasing trend of OI after a temporary improvement of obesity (P < 0.001) during a one year treatment period. F and LBM, however, did not change significantly, irrespective of the OI increment (P < 0.001), which was due to the increase of LBM. These observations indicated that the effects of treatment with LCBD for obesity should be assessed by the changes in F and LBM.