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Body Composition


            Interest in health, physical fitness, and awareness of the relationship between body weight and health has increased among the general population, leading to more participation in fitness and health programs. Normal levels of body fat range from 14 to 19 percent in adult men and from 20 to 24 percent in women aged 20 to 60 years old. Obesity, which is defined as an above-average proportion of body fat, has been linked to cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and some cancers. There are several techniques used to determine body composition including body mass index and underwater weighing. .
             There are a variety of different ways of combining weight and height to estimate body fatness, but the most common is to divide the weight and in kilograms, by the height in meters multiplied by itself. This is called the body mass index or BMI. The body mass index is a simple but adequate andthropometric index of adult nutritional status for use in populations. On the scale, people with an index over 25 and less than 30 are said to be overweight, and people with an index over 30 are defined as obese (Speakman, 2001). Researchers found a 5% increase in the risk of heart risk of heart failure for men and a 7% increase for women for each BMI increase of 1 kg/m^2, which is approximately 5 pounds for an individual of average height (Goran, 1998). This means that if you compare women whose BMI is 25 kg/m^2 with women whose BMI is 26kg/m^2, women with a BMI of 26 will have a increase risk of heart failure. Among all participants, obese subjects had twice the risk of heart failure as compared with subjects with a normal BMI. .
             The preference of using BMI to measure mortality rates stems from the fact that, during the 1930's, the life insurance companies of the USA performed an analysis of the factors influencing the likelihood of a person redeeming a life insurance policy. The motivation of the insurance companies in this respect was clear, if they could predict in advance who was likely to die, they could set the levels of their premiums more effectively to ensure that they made a profit.


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