Body composition analyses in normal weight obese women

L. Di Renzo a,b, V. Del Gobbo c, M. Bigioni a, M.G. Premrov c, R. Cianci a,d, A. De Lorenzo a

a Department of Neuroscience, Division of Human Nutrition and c Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, Division of Immunology, University of Tor Vergata – Rome (Italy) b I.N.Di.M, National Institute for Mediterranean Diet and Nutrigenomic – Reggio Calabria (Italy) d Institute of Internal Medicine, Catholic University – Rome (Italy)

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• Endocrinology
• Internal Medicine

The purpose of this study was to identify new indexes of body composition that characterize the normal weight obese (NWO) women. We measured body composition by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) by indirect calorimetry in a cohort of seventy-five healthy Italian women, subdivided into three groups (nonobese/controls, NWO, preobese-obese women). Despite a normal body mass index (BMI), the NWO women have a higher body fat mass percentage (FAT %) (38.99 ± 6.03) associated to a significant (p = 0.02) lower amount of lean mass of legs (12.24 ± 1.31) and lean mass of left leg (6.07 ± 0.64) with respect to the control group. The NWO group showed a significant (p = 0.043) lower RMR (1201.25 ± 349.02) in comparison with nonobese and preobese-obese women. To classify NWO individuals among general population, we identified three significant body composition indexes: abdominal index, leg index and trunk index. The NWO women showed significant increased value in the three indexes (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that, despite a normal BMI, the NWO women displayed a cluster of anthropometric characteristics (body fat mass percentage, leg indexes) not different to obese women ones. An appropriate diet-therapy and physical activity may be protecting NWO individuals from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases associated to preobese-obese women.

Corresponding Author: Antonino De Lorenzo, MD; e-mail: delorenzo@uniroma2.it

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