Comparison Of Body Fat Percentage

Body fat percentage is a major determiner of health. Essential body fat is how much you need to live healthily. Essential body fat percentage on average is 12 percent for women and 3 percent for men. Above that essential amount, a normal and healthy range varies greatly depending on several factors. Getting an accurate measurement is also a consideration or knowing your percentage goal won't matter.

Testing Body Fat

There are many ways to test for body fat percentage, not including simple calculations for determining a body fat range such as body mass index, or BMI. Body fat calculations such as height-weight, BMI and girth measurements do not reveal your body fat percentage, and they have serious drawbacks. To estimate body fat percentage instead, use skinfold calipers, Bioeletrical Impedance Analysis, BIA, or underwater weighing. These three methods are the most accessible to the public.

Other methods include Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, Near Infrared Interactance, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Total Body Electrical Conductivity and Computed Tomography.

Calipers

Skinfold calipers are small tools you use to pinch the skin at different sites on the body such as the abdomen or upper arm and then use a calculation of the results to determine body fat percentage. Different calculations and sites exist. Using the wrong method will get poor results. Other disadvantages are that you cannot do this on yourself, cheaper calipers are not as accurate as professional models and there is room for human error.

BIA

BIA is the easiest method for self-testing. Devices that send an electrical current through the body are sold as handheld devices and scales that you can use at home. Not all of these devices are made similarly. Each uses a different formula that may not be ideal for you.

Underwater Weighing

Underwater weighing is expensive but is the most accurate. A gym may have the equipment for this, but you are more likely to find an underwater weighing set up at a local university. Testers weigh you outside of water and then in water. Since fat is less dense than water but muscle and bone are more dense, the more bone and muscle you have, the more you'll weigh in water. This shows a lower body fat percentage.

Asians tend to have light and porous bones compared to Caucasians and African-Americans, which changes the results for body fat percentage when using underwater weighing. African-Americans' bones are denser so they tend to sink more, displacing more water and affecting results. Twelve percent for men and 19 percent for women is a healthy and normal amount for African-Americans using underwater weighing. Asian men are healthy at 18 percent and women at 22 percent. Caucasians have results in between, with men around 15 percent being healthy and women at 22 percent. (See References 3).

Age

A person's age further determines a healthy body fat percentage. As you get older, it is accepted that you may have a higher percentage, though it is not necessarily true that every person will gain fat. If you are a woman, a healthy range is from 14 to 21 percent under 30 years old, 15 to 23 percent between 30 and 50 years old, and 16 to 25 percent if you are over 50 years old. Men under 30 are healthy with a body fat range of 9 to 15 percent. Eleven to 17 percent is a healthy range for men between the ages of 30 and 50 years old. The ideal range for older men is 12 to 19 percent.