Body Composition Assessment UPDATED
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
Reasons to Asses Body Compostion - CORRECT ANSWER - -Provides a starting point to
base current and future decisions about weight loss and weight gain
-Provides realistic goals about how to best achieve an "ideal" balance between the body's fat and
nonfat compartments
-Reason to not assess: Provide something for individuals to obsess about....similar to body
weight
--Special concern related to those with eating disorders.
Reasons to Assess Body Composition (Cont.) - CORRECT ANSWER - -Monitors changes
in the body's fat and fat-free components during exercise regimens and rehabilitation programs
(Definitely used for research purposes)
-Allows the allied health practitioner to interact with the individuals they deal with to provide
quality information related to nutrition, weight control, exercise training, and rehabilitation.
Weight-for-Height Tables - CORRECT ANSWER - -Serve as statistical landmarks based
on the average ranges of body mass related to stature in which men and women aged 25-29 years
have the lowest mortality rate
-Do not provide reliable information about the relative composition of the human body
-Have limited (to no) value as as standard to evaluate physique.
BMI - CORRECT ANSWER - -Derived from body mass related to stature
-Used to evaluate the "normalcy" of body size
-As BMI increases, so does risk for cardiovascular complications (including hypertension and
stroke), type 2 diabetes, and renal disease.
-Allows population data to be collected at regular intervals to estimate the prevalence of
overfatness/obesity
--Pro: Very easy...height and weight
, --Con: Not a measure of body composition!
-BMI of 30 is the typical classification of obesity used today
Body Compositions Definitions-Vague! - CORRECT ANSWER - -Medical literature:
--The term overweight refers to an overfat condition , despite the absence of accompanying body
fat measures
--Obesity refers to individuals at the extreme overfat continuum.
-The overweight condition simply refers to a body weight that exceeds some average for stature,
and perhaps age, usually by some standard deviation unit or percentage.
Cont. - CORRECT ANSWER - -When body fat measures are available, one can more
accurately plave an individual's body fat level on a continuum from low to high
-Overfatness refers to a condition where body fat exceeds an age-and/or gender appropriate
average.
-the term obesity refers to the overfat condition that accompanies a constellation of comordities.
--Are there people that we currently labe "obese" that don't carry this "constellation of
comordities?" YES!
--Are there people that we currently label "normal weight" that DO carry this "constellation of
comordities?" YES!
Reference Man and Reference Woman - CORRECT ANSWER - -The reference man is
taller and heavier, his skeleton weighs more, and he has a larger muscle mass and lower total fat
content than the "reference" woman.
-Reference man:
--Fat = 15% of total body mass (Quiz says 12%)
-Reference woman:
--Fat = 27% of total body mass
Essential and Storage Fat - CORRECT ANSWER - -Essential fat consists of the fat stored
in the marrow of bones, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, muscles, and lipid-rich
tissues of the central nervous system.
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
Reasons to Asses Body Compostion - CORRECT ANSWER - -Provides a starting point to
base current and future decisions about weight loss and weight gain
-Provides realistic goals about how to best achieve an "ideal" balance between the body's fat and
nonfat compartments
-Reason to not assess: Provide something for individuals to obsess about....similar to body
weight
--Special concern related to those with eating disorders.
Reasons to Assess Body Composition (Cont.) - CORRECT ANSWER - -Monitors changes
in the body's fat and fat-free components during exercise regimens and rehabilitation programs
(Definitely used for research purposes)
-Allows the allied health practitioner to interact with the individuals they deal with to provide
quality information related to nutrition, weight control, exercise training, and rehabilitation.
Weight-for-Height Tables - CORRECT ANSWER - -Serve as statistical landmarks based
on the average ranges of body mass related to stature in which men and women aged 25-29 years
have the lowest mortality rate
-Do not provide reliable information about the relative composition of the human body
-Have limited (to no) value as as standard to evaluate physique.
BMI - CORRECT ANSWER - -Derived from body mass related to stature
-Used to evaluate the "normalcy" of body size
-As BMI increases, so does risk for cardiovascular complications (including hypertension and
stroke), type 2 diabetes, and renal disease.
-Allows population data to be collected at regular intervals to estimate the prevalence of
overfatness/obesity
--Pro: Very easy...height and weight
, --Con: Not a measure of body composition!
-BMI of 30 is the typical classification of obesity used today
Body Compositions Definitions-Vague! - CORRECT ANSWER - -Medical literature:
--The term overweight refers to an overfat condition , despite the absence of accompanying body
fat measures
--Obesity refers to individuals at the extreme overfat continuum.
-The overweight condition simply refers to a body weight that exceeds some average for stature,
and perhaps age, usually by some standard deviation unit or percentage.
Cont. - CORRECT ANSWER - -When body fat measures are available, one can more
accurately plave an individual's body fat level on a continuum from low to high
-Overfatness refers to a condition where body fat exceeds an age-and/or gender appropriate
average.
-the term obesity refers to the overfat condition that accompanies a constellation of comordities.
--Are there people that we currently labe "obese" that don't carry this "constellation of
comordities?" YES!
--Are there people that we currently label "normal weight" that DO carry this "constellation of
comordities?" YES!
Reference Man and Reference Woman - CORRECT ANSWER - -The reference man is
taller and heavier, his skeleton weighs more, and he has a larger muscle mass and lower total fat
content than the "reference" woman.
-Reference man:
--Fat = 15% of total body mass (Quiz says 12%)
-Reference woman:
--Fat = 27% of total body mass
Essential and Storage Fat - CORRECT ANSWER - -Essential fat consists of the fat stored
in the marrow of bones, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, muscles, and lipid-rich
tissues of the central nervous system.
