# FAT AND FAT-FREE BODY COMPOSITION DEVELOPMENT IN AGING

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 1989 · $123,080

## Abstract

Body composition assessment is an important aspect in evaluating health,
nutritional status and physical fitness.  The proposed research is
designed to investigate methodological approaches to assess body
composition throughout the life-cycle and to provide normative data on
children and older adults which presently is unavailable.  In the first
aspect of the program, both cross-sectional and longitudinal research
designs will be used to extend previous work on children and to initiate
new, but related, research focusing on body composition and the adult
aging process.  Previous research has demonstrated that the fat-free body
(FFB) composition varies substantially due to changes in water and bone
mineral content during pediatric growth and development.  Moreover, there
is evidence, although sparse, that the FFB composition changes during he
adult aging proces.  Two studies are proposed to investigate the
integrity of assumptions associated with FFB constancy.   The first will
follow high and low physically active children (age 10-13 years)
longitudinally over four years to validate and extend our past findings
based on normal children with respect to growth changes in FFB
composition.  The second study will investigate change in FFB composition
during the adult aging process utilizing a cross-sectional design in a
large sample of males and females, 20-70 years of age.  To study the
constancy of the FFB, a previously developed methodological approach will
be utilized involving measures of density (hydrostatic weighing), total
body water (deuterium oxide dilution, bone mineral content (photon
absorptiometry), and body potassium (40K count).  A second aspect of the
proposed research program on body composition methodology is the
development of measurement techniques which can be applied in clinical
examinations and large field studies.  Several studies are proposed to
investigate the precision with which anthropometric and bioelectric
techniques (total body electromagnetic conductivity and whole body
electrical resistance) can estimate fat and FFB: 1) a large cross-
sectional sample of males and females ages 10-70 years; 2) longitudinal
studies to determine the precision of estimating body composition changes
during growth and aging; and 3) a study to assess the usefulness of these
techniques to measure changes during weight gain and loss.  The research
plan has been revised to longitudinally study the precision with which
anthropometric and bioelectric techniques can track change in body
composition during growth and aging.  Dual photon absorptiometry has been
added to measure total body bone mineral.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3120180
- **Project number:** 1R01AG008513-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **SAM.gov UEI:** Y8CWNJRCNN91
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD A BOILEAU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1989
- **Award amount:** $123,080
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 1988-12-01 → 1992-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3120180

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3120180, FAT AND FAT-FREE BODY COMPOSITION DEVELOPMENT IN AGING (1R01AG008513-01). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3120180. Licensed CC0.

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