How to Measure Body Fat Percentage for Overweight Children

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Dr. David Hill and today we're going to be talking about measuring body fat percentage in overweight children. Now we have become more and more concerned about obesity and overweight in children because for a variety of reasons. We are finding that we are experiencing an epidemic of overweight in America today and really world wide, among children. This is due to the easy availability of processed and fast foods to an environment that discourages exercising, encourages spending time in front of the television and in front of the computer. To scattered family schedules that don't lead to family meals that lead to eating out instead of cooking at home. To an excess of juice and soda, there are many, many reasons. But putting all these things together, we know that we're seeing children who are going to have life long effects from being overweight and obese, including early heart disease and even cancer. So it's very important for us to know, is a child overweight? The easiest tool that we have is called the Body Mass Index. At every wellness exam, your physician is going to measure the child's height or length in younger children and compare it to the child's weight. This comparison of weight to length ratio or a Body Mass Index, will measure that child's weight compared to height and suggest that it's perhaps a little high, normal or even a little bit low. This ends up being a very good proxy for obesity, even in children who are relatively athletic. Now there are very few cases where the Body Mass Index does not provide a great standing for obesity. Some very muscular, very athletic teenagers may really have a very low body fat percentage, even though they have high Body Mass Index. In those kids, you may want a specialized clinic to evaluate body fat further. There are several methods that this is done by. A method that is increasingly common because it's quick and easy uses electrical current. Fat has a different resistance to electrical current than muscle and other tissues within the body. And by running a very, low voltage current over the skin, a machine can estimate the percentage of body fat. This is a quick, inexpensive, and relatively accurate means of determining body fat. There's also the old skin caliper method, by which skin measurements taken with a pair of calipers. And compared to a standard scale of how thick the skin should be, because fat deposits under the skin. This requires an experienced person who knows where and how to take these measurements to do properly. So you don''t want somebody who only does it occasionally. You really want somebody doing that, who's done a whole lot of it. A very sophisticated way actually uses the displacement of water, a water tank to see what the density of the child's body is. The density suggests whether the child has more muscle or more fat, fat is less dense than muscle. And so a child who's fat is going to float more than a child who's less fat is going to sink more. So using any of these methods, you can determine whether a child's overweight is due to an excessive muscle or an excessive fat. With that said, if your child is not an extraordinarily fit athlete, chances are excellent that the Body Mass Index is all you need to know. In order to start taking appropriate precautions and steps to adjust the diet and exercise and help a child lead a healthier lifestyle. Talking about measuring body fat in children, I'm Dr. David Hill."