A Comparative Study of Different Methods of Body Fat Assessment

The aim of the study was to compare the results of body fat percentage obtained from 20 young non-obese adults with the use of various selected methods: instrumental – Under Water Weigh-in (UWW) and anthropometric – Four Skinfold Measurements, Girth Measurements and BMI related formula, and to assess their correlation with UWW as a reference. 20 subjects were selected from different colleges of Gwalior city. Purposive sampling was used for selection of subjects. The age of subjects ranged from 20 to 25 years. The data collected with various methods on body fat measurement was analyzed by using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple range test (LSD) for significance of the differences among means. Product moment correlation coefficient was used to know the correlation among selected methods of body fat measurement. The descriptive statistics was used for demographic information. The level of significance was set at 0.05 for the study. The analysis of data revealed that there was a significant difference among the means of body fat percentage measured with selected body fat measurement methods But when the Post Hoc test was applied it was found that the means of fat percentage measured with UWW method, Skinfold method and Girth measurement method was not having any significant difference at 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05). And likewise, there was insignificant difference were found in between BMI method and Girth measurement method. When the correlation coefficient was calculated, it was found that UWW Method for body fat measurement was positively correlated with the other selected methods.