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Document Type

Article

Abstract

There is evidence that increased body weight in adults is pre­dominantly due to an increase in the amount of fat. The association of blood pressure with body weight could be due to the increased total body mass or to some underlying relationship between blood pressure and body fat. The separate influences of body size and fatness on level of blood pressure in adults was investigated in a sample of 62 men and 51 women aged 18 to 30 years. Total body fatness, percent body fatness and fat-free mass were estimated using hydrostatic weighting and from equations using anthropometry in combination with measures of bioelectrical impedance. Our previous work in adults ages 18 to 49 years showed in both men and women a consistent positive correlation between level of systolic blood pressure and total body fat or percent body fat and no significant rela­tionship to fat-free mass. Women, but not men, showed a similar rela­tionship for diastolic blood pressure. In the present study, the results were less consistent. For diastolic blood pressure there were no significant rela­tionships observed with any of the measures of body composition. For sys­tolic blood pressure in the men, our findings were similar to those of the previous study for percent body fat and for total body fat. In the women, the relationships between fatness variables and blood pressure were not signifi­cant. However, contrary to the results of our previous study, a significant positive correlation was observed between fat-free mass and systolic blood pressure in both the men and the women. Components of body composition estimated from anthropometry in combination with bioelectric impedance are useful in epidemiological studies where underwater weighing is impractical.

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