Body composition refers to the amount of body fat a person has relative to the amount of lean tissue (e.g. muscle and bone). Essentially, an unhealthy body composition is when you carry too much fat relative to lean muscle. Body weight alone is not a definitive assessment for altered body composition. Unfortunately, the bathroom scale cannot differentiate the mass of fat tissue from the mass of lean muscle. As your body’s “fat to lean” ratio increases, your health risks also increase. Some of the conditions associated with an altered body composition include:

• heart disease and stroke
• diabetes
• high blood pressure, high cholesterol
• gallbladder disease
• osteoarthritis
• low back pain
• estrogen imbalances
• sleep apnea
• depression
• general inflammation in the body

The Canadian Guidelines for body weight assessment utilize the body mass index (BMI) and the waist circumference (WC). BMI is calculated by dividing one’s weight in kilograms by one’s height squared in metres. Individuals with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight, while individuals with a BMI of 30 or greater are considered obese. Both categories are associated with an increase in disease risk. Waist circumference greater than 40 cm in men and 35 cm in women correlates with abdominal fat and is an independent indicator of health risk.

One shortcoming of BMI and WC is the decreased accuracy in assessing body composition of people who are very short, very tall, competitive athletes, body builders, certain ethnic or racial groups, adults over the age of 65, and young adults who have not attained full growth. Another shortcoming is that it does not take frame size into account. The BMI is not a direct measure of body fat or lean tissue (muscle), and high levels of body fat are specifically linked to health risks.

The percentage of lean tissue has important implications for how well an individual ages or withstands acute or chronic illness. According to The Journal of Nutrition, “No decline with age is as dramatic or potentially more significant than the decline in lean body mass.” And according to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the loss of muscle that occurs as people age “is the backdrop against which the drama of disease is played out: a body already depleted of protein because of aging is less able to withstand the protein catabolism that comes with acute illness or inadequate protein intake.” During illness muscle provides protein for antibody production, wound healing, and white blood cell production.

At Algoma Natural Healing Clinic, a Body Composition Monitor is utlized to assess not only total weight and BMI, but also body fat percentage, skeletal muscle percentage, resting metabolism and visceral fat. The machine used has been clinically validated in research studies.

Contact the clinic (705 575 7560) to find out how you can access this body composition tool and utilize it in the course of treatment.