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Assessment by bioimpedance of forearm cell mass: a new approach to calibration

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 56, pages 723–728 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: Changes in skeletal muscle mass are involved in several important clinical disorders including sarcopenia and obesity. Unlike body fat, skeletal muscle is difficult to quantify in vivo, particularly without highly specialized equipment. The present study had a two-fold aim: to develop a regional 40K counter for non-invasively estimating cell mass in the arm, mainly skeletal muscle cell mass, without radiation exposure; and to test the hypothesis that cell mass in the arm is highly correlated with electrical impedance after adjusting for the arm's length.

Methods: Forearm cell mass was estimated using a rectangular lead-shielded 40K counter with 4-NaI crystals; impedance of the arm was measured at multiple frequencies using a segmental bioimpedance analysis (BIA) system. The system's within- and between-day coefficient of variation (CV) for 40K-derived elemental potassium averaged 1.8±1.3 and 5.8±1.2%, respectively. The corresponding BIA system's CVs were 1.0±0.4 and 2.1±1.0%, respectively.

Subjects and results: Participants in the study were 15 healthy adults (eight females, seven males; age 39±2.8 y, BMI 22.9±4.5 kg/m2). The right arm's K (5.2±1.7 g) was highly correlated with length-adjusted impedance (r2=0.81, 0.82, and 0.83 for 5, 50 and 300 kHz, respectively; all P<0.001); multiple regression analysis showed no additional improvement by adding age or sex to the prediction models.

Conclusion: These results demonstrate the feasibility of calibrating BIA-measured electrical properties of the arm against estimates of arm cell mass, mainly of skeletal muscle, obtained by regional 40K counting. This simple and practical approach should facilitate the development of BIA-based regional cell mass prediction formulas.

Sponsorship: National Institutes of Health grants RR00645 and NIDDK 42618.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to Dr Corrado Testolin who participated in the early planning stages of this project and to Drs Moonseong Heo and Myles Faith who provided statistical guidance.

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Author notes

  1. A Pietrobelli: Guarantor: A Pietrobelli.

  2. A Pietrobelli, C Nuñez, G Zingaretti, N Battistini, P Morini, ZM Wang, S Yasumura and SB Heymsfield: Contributors: AP designed and coordinated the project, literature review; CN, GZ and SY were involved in literature review; NB and PM were involved in documentation review; ZW was involved in literature and documentation review; SBH was involved in literature review, documentation review and project adviser. All authors contributed to the preparation of this paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Obesity Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, USA

    A Pietrobelli, C Nuñez, G Zingaretti, ZM Wang & SB Heymsfield

  2. Pediatric Unit, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    A Pietrobelli

  3. Department of Human Nutrition, University of Modena, Modena, Italy

    N Battistini & P Morini

  4. Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA

    S Yasumura

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  1. A Pietrobelli
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Correspondence to SB Heymsfield.

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Pietrobelli, A., Nuñez, C., Zingaretti, G. et al. Assessment by bioimpedance of forearm cell mass: a new approach to calibration. Eur J Clin Nutr 56, 723–728 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601384

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