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TOTAL BODY WATER CONTENT IN NORMAL AND GROSSLY OBESE WOMEN
Author(s) -
Hankin M. E.,
Munz K.,
Steinbeck A. W.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1976.tb128209.x
Subject(s) - body water , overweight , tritiated water , obesity , zoology , body mass index , isotope dilution , body weight , normal weight , endocrinology , chemistry , medicine , biology , tritium , chromatography , mass spectrometry , physics , nuclear physics
Total body water content was estimated for 27 normal and 27 obese women by an isotope dilution technique using tritiated water. The mean total body water content expressed in absolute amounts was significantly raised in the obese group ( P <0·001), but was significantly lower ( P <0·001) when the values were expressed as a percentage of body weight. Significant correlations were found between weight and total body water content ( P <0·001 and P <0·5) for the normal and obese subjects respectively. Separate regression equations based on height and weight were calculated for the normal and obese subjects, and good agreement was found in most instances between the measured and calculated total body water contents. The overweight women, with two exceptions, had total body water values in the expected range, which indicated that they were accumulating fat, not water. Although excess water was found in 2 women, this contributed only about 50% to their overweight.