Original articles  BODY COMPOSITION, SPORT NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENT (ERGOGENICS) 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2004 March;44(1):38-43

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Multicompartment model to assess body composition in professional water polo players

Andreoli A. ¹, Melchiorri G. ¹, Volpe S. L. ², Sardella F. ³, Iacopino L. ¹, De Lorenzo A. ¹

¹ Human Nutrition Unit University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy 2 Department of Nutrition University of Massachuttes, Amherst, USA 3 Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (“CONI”), Rome, Italy

Aim. The aim of ­this ­study was to com­pare dif­fer­ences ­between skin­fold thick­nesses (SK), bio­electrical impe­dance anal­ysis (BIA), a 2-com­part­ment ­model (2C), and 2, 3-com­part­ment ­models (3C) of per­cent ­body fat (%BF) assess­ment ­with a 4-com­part­ment ­model (4C) in pro­fes­sional ­water ­polo ath­letes.
­Methods. Ten ­male sub­jects, 18 to 29 ­years of age, par­tic­i­pated in ­this ­study. ­Under ­water ­weighing, deu­te­rium dilu­tion, and ­dual-­energy X-ray absorp­tiom­etry (DXA) ­were ­used to pro­vide the ­required ­values for the ­models. The two, 3C ­models ­used ­were estab­lished by ­Withers et al. (3C-W) and by the DXA man­u­fac­turers (3C-DXA). 4C was ­also estab­lished by ­Withers et al.
­Results. ­There ­were no sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ences ­between 2C, 3C-W, and 3C-DXA ­when com­pared ­with 4C (cri­terion ­model). ­There ­were no sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ences ­between 2C and 3C-W. %BF was sig­nif­i­cantly ­greater ­using 2C com­pared ­with 3C-DXA. %BF ­derived ­from SK and BIA ­were sig­nif­i­cantly ­greater ­than all ­other ­methods. 4C was ­best cor­re­lated ­with 3C-W (R2=0.998), fol­lowed by 2C (R2=0.806), 3C-DXA (R2=0.5071), SK (R2=0.2945), and BIA (R2=0.2377).
Con­clu­sion. We con­clude ­that 2C and 3C-W ­assess %BF ­equally as ­well as 4C; how­ever, SK and BIA sig­nif­i­cantly ­over-esti­mated %BF in ­water ­polo ath­letes.