Comparison of methods of estimating body fat in normal subjects and cancer patients.

Total body fat can be indirectly estimated by the following noninvasive techniques: determination of lean body mass by measurement of body potassium or body water, and determination of density by underwater weighing or by skinfold measurements. The measurement of total body nitrogen by neutron activation provides another technique for estimating lean body mass and hence body fat. The nitrogen measurement can also be combined with the measurement of total body potassium in a two compartment model of the lean body mass from which another estimate of body fat can be derived. All of the above techniques are subject to various errors and are based on a number of assumptions, some of which are incompletely validated. These techniques were applied to a population of normal subjects and to a group of cancer patients. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed in terms of their ability to estimate total body fat.