Abstract
Objective: To investigate the effect of a breakfast meal on bioelectrical impedance (BI).
Design: Three separate interventions.
Setting: A university based study.
Subjects: Young, healthy volunteers recruited from staff. Twenty-nine subjects (11 men, 18 women), ten subjects (two men and eight women) and 13 subjects (2 men and 11 women) completed the first, second and third protocol, respectively.
Interventions: Total body BI (protocol 1) or both total body BI and segmental BI (namely arm, leg or torso BI); (protocol 3) was measured in the fasting state and for up to 5 h after the consumption of a breakfast meal containing 28% energy from fat. In the second protocol, total body BI was measured in the same way on two occasions after subjects consumed isocaloric meals containing either 28% energy or 4% energy from fat.
Results: Consumption of a 2300 kJ meal was followed by a significant (P=0.0002) decrease in BI (95% confidence intervals 12.5 and 35.3), a change which occurred 2 h after the meal and continued until 5 h, irrespective of meal fat content. The fall in total body BI was accounted for primarily by a fall in the BI of the limbs, with virtually no contribution from the torso.
Conclusion: To ensure consistency in the interpretation of BI for body composition analysis, it is important that measurements are made in the fasting state.
Sponsorship: MRG received a Deakin University Postgraduate Award.
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Gallagher, M., Walker, K. & O'Dea, K. The influence of a breakfast meal on the assessment of body composition using bioelectrical impedance. Eur J Clin Nutr 52, 94–97 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600520
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600520
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