Techniques for the measurement of human body composition

In many disorders of nutrition, and of water and electrolyte balance, body weight may be an unreliable index of the clinical state, since it may fail to reflect the change in body composition which is physiologically more important. Some techniques by which body composition can be measured in the living subject have been briefly reviewed: recent developments in the field have included some methods of great expense and complexity, and some which are very cheap and simple. An attempt has been made to suggest which methods are most appropriate for specific applications, and to indicate the assumptions which are implicit in these methods (AU)