RESUMO
Being the largest single component of the human body,water is essential for life. Disease can lead to salt and water imbalance, and it is particularly important to measure the content and distribution of water in body. The current body water measurement methods are still not mature,and it's even hard to measure extracellular and intracellular water. Isotope dilution method(ID),bioelectrical impedance analysis(BIA),skinfold thickness measurement,and resonant cavity perturbation(RCP)are the commonly used methods for measuring human body water composition. This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of these methods and concludes that all these four methods can be used to measure total body water;more specifically,ID and BIA can measure extracellular water and intracellular water,whereas BIA is more suitable for clinical applications such as monitoring of fluid balance,guiding of fluid management,assessment of lymphedema and nutritional risk,and management of obesity. Body water measurement will play more important roles in diagnosis,prevention,treatment,and prognosis of diseases.