Body fat measurement in African-American students at a historically black college and university and its correlation with estimations based on body mass index, waist circumference, and bioelectrical impedance analysis, compared to air displacement plethysmography

It is essential to determine the body composition of individuals undergoing physical training because a low fat-muscle ratio might indicate better physical performance in many types of sports and recreational activities. This study was conducted to determine whether the percent body fat (%BF) estimations made from body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) correlate with the estimations made by air-displacement plethysmography (BOD POD) in African Americans. The subjects recruited for our study were 119 African-American college students (59 male and 60 female) who visited an exercise physiology laboratory in North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA. The body composition of the subjects was assessed by BMI, WC, BIA, and BOD POD. BMI, WC, and BIA showed highly positive correlation (r = 0.650-0.915) with the estimated %BF compared to BOD POD. The best-fit multiple regression equation included age, BMI, and WC, and R 2 was determined to be 56.0% in male and 73.0% in female subjects for variation in %BF determined by BOD POD. Although compared to BOD POD, the BIA showed a high correlation with the estimated %BF than did the BMI and WC, we suggest that on the field, multivariate regression equation including age, BMI, and WC should be used for the assessment of body composition in African-American college students.