Assessment of body composition of Bengalee boys of Binpur, West Bengal, India, using a modified Hattori chart method

Objective: To investigate the relationship be­tween fat-free mass index (FFMI) and fat mass index (FMI) by applying a body composition chart (BCC) on school boys of Binpur, West Bengal, India.

Method: Data from 214 healthy school children of 10 to 17 years of age were obtained. The FFMI and FMI were plotted on the BCC, and the dif­ferences in the relationships between categories of FFMI and FMI were separately evaluated by Chi square test with body mass index (BMI) cut-off value.

Results: The means of FFM and FM were 32.3±7.92 kg and 6.58± 3.2 kg respectively. Means of FFMI and FMI were 14.0±1.78 kg/m² and 2.83± 1.20 kg/m^2, respectively.  Both FFMI and FMI categories were highly significant with cut-off BMI. Hattori chart indicated a wide variability in PBF that can occur for a given BMI value.

Conclusions: Use of Hattori Charts incorporating BMI, PBF, FMI and FFMI are useful in studying the interrelations between these 4 variables. Both FFMI and FMI categories were highly significant when compared to cut-off BMI in measuring body composition. Modified Hattori Chart indicated a wide variability in PBF that can occur for a given BMI value.