Estimation of body composition of adult Bangladeshi male and female using bioelectrical impedance analysis

We conducted a study to determine total body water (TBW), fat free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) in adult Bangladeshi subjects using bioelectrical impedance analysis. A total of 52 subjects were studied, of whom 33 were men and 19 women. The mean TBW in men was 36.9 litre compared to 30.5 litre in women (p<0.001). Similarly, the mean FFM was 50:4 kg compared to 41.7 kg for men and women respectively (p<0.001). However, the mean percentage of fat in women was significantly higher than men (33% vs. 25%, p=0.001). These results show that the proportions of fat in Bangladeshi adult male and female subjects from the higher middle class are not different from the general population in developed countries. Further study is required to determine the fat percent of the underprivileged general population.