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Total body potassium revisited

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 153–154 (2014)Cite this article

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There are a multitude of methods available today that can be used to assess body composition in humans, from pre-term infants to the oldest adults. A body composition method is usually focused at a specific component of body composition, such as fat mass, total body water (TBW) or body cell mass (BCM). Many methods have been developed over the past century, with one of the earliest measures of body composition being total body potassium counting (TBK), which was first recognized in 1950s. There were a large number of whole body counters (WBC) available in 1970s,1 but over time the use of TBK facilities has decreased and old counters have been decommissioned. With other more accessible body composition technologies becoming more commonplace, today TBK is a rarely utilized method. However, as no alternative technology provides a direct and precise measure of BCM,2 the need for accurate body composition techniques for clinical and public health demands that TBK counting as a method should be revisited.

BCM is the body’s actively metabolizing, oxygen consuming tissues3 and represents the body’s functional mass. The BCM contains more than 98% of the body’s potassium content. Natural 40K occurs in constant proportion to its stable isotopes. BCM measured using TBK counting is an ideal indicator of nutritional status in growth and disease because the potassium concentration of BCM is extremely constant and under careful control even in ‘non-steady’ states, and its measurement is independent of lean tissue hydration changes that occur with maturation and disease. Precise and accurate quantification of BCM allows the assessment of nutritional status at all stages of life, from loss of vital tissue with age or during disease,4 to growth studies in infants and children.5

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children’s Nutrition Research Centre, Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    A J Murphy

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    K J Ellis

  3. Department of Physiology, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India

    A V Kurpad

  4. Stable Isotope Biochemistry Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Glasgow, UK

    T Preston

  5. Division of Human Health, Nutritional and Health-related Environmental Studies Section, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria

    C Slater

Authors
  1. A J Murphy
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  2. K J Ellis
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  3. A V Kurpad
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  4. T Preston
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  5. C Slater
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A J Murphy.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This commentary is based on discussions during a Consultants' Meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 17–19 July 2013.

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Murphy, A., Ellis, K., Kurpad, A. et al. Total body potassium revisited. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 153–154 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.262

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