Dexa vs. Calipers for BF Estimation

[lylemcd]

Main site

[alcahuetej]

I also posted this in the comments section.

I was DEXA scanned last summer at 14.2%, and most of the comments in your forums estimated me at 7 – 9% (note, it was just an upper body shot, no back or legs…so this may have adjusted things a bit higher maybe around 10 – 11%). But I received some comments such as, “14%?!! If you lost any more fat you’d be dead.” Well, I’ve since lost another 3 – 4 pounds since then and no strength in the gym.

I’m inclined to think the DEXA is fairly accurate, and since it’s an updated method, it’s simply able to pick up more body fat than a caliper would. I’ll try to pull up the study later, but DEXA was compared to the even more sophisticated four compartment model, which (shocker), was even higher than DEXA.

The best I can come up with, is you’ve stated that 3% for a male is essential body fat that is in the brain/spine. My DEXA scan separated my percentages by body part, and my head had the highest percentage at 25%. This 3% essential fat could make up the discrepancy between older methods (you can’t pinch your brain with a caliper) and a DEXA scan. For example, contest lean bodybuilders that are near death would be 3 – 4% using old methods. Alberto Nunez is a famous example who is absolutely shredded before a contest, and was scanned around 6%.

This is my long winded way of saying, a quick and dirty way of comparing the new and the old, would be to take 3% off what the DEXA scan gives you. So, an “internet 5 – 6%” would actually be a DEXA 8 – 9%.

[lylemcd]

Yup, saw it on the main site. Same comment, a single measurement does not define the systematic difference; mine was only for an example.

As well, are you really gonna nitpick 3 vs. 4-6%

It's all an estimate for goodness sake.

[VinnyG]

someone posted that link on the comments> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15162135

so i threw that formula on my spreadsheet and it returned the exact same value as the Joe Parrillo 9-site formula:

High-performance bodybuilding. J. Parrillo and M. Greenwood-Robinson. Berkeley Publishing group, NY. pp. 169-172.

[lylemcd]

So calipers about 3% lower than DEXA using standard equations if I'm reading it right.

About what's in the article, maybe a little less.

I'll have to get this full text

[alcahuetej]

I haven't seen this study posted yet.

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v.../1602131a.html

"Prediction of DXA-determined whole body fat from skinfolds: importance of including skinfolds from the thigh and calf in young, healthy men and women."

"CONCLUSIONS:

The results of this study confirm that lower body skinfolds are highly related to percent body fat in fit and healthy young men and women, and uphold current recommendations by the British Olympic Association to include the thigh skinfold with sigma4skf. Conventional use of the sigma4skf to estimate percent body fat is significantly enhanced by the inclusion of the thigh and calf skinfolds, either independently or in combination. In this group of males and females, the sum of the thigh and calf skinfolds accounted for the most variance in percent fat."