ArticleBMJ military health2023
US Army basic combat training alters the relationship between body mass index and per cent body fat.
Article in BMJ military health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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2 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Body mass index limitation of overweight and obesity in Czech military personnel.Central European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Relation of body surface area-to-mass ratio to risk of exertional heat stroke in healthy men and women.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2024Article
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8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION/
backgroundAs a proxy for adiposity, body mass index (BMI) provides a practical public health metric to counter obesity-related disease trends. On an individual basis, BMI cannot distinguish fat and lean components of body composition. Further, the relationship between BMI and body composition may be altered in response to physical training. We investigated this dynamic relationship by examining the effect of US Army basic combat training (BCT) on the association between BMI and per cent body fat (%BF).
methodsBMI and %BF were measured at the beginning (week 1) and end (week 9) of BCT in female (n=504) and male (n=965) trainees. Height and weight were obtained for BMI, and body composition was obtained by dual X-ray absorptiometry. Sensitivity and specificity of BMI-based classification were determined at two BMI thresholds (25 kg/m
resultsA progressive age-related increase in fat-free mass index (FFMI) was observed, with an inflection point at age 21 years. In soldiers aged 21+, BMI of 25.0 kg/m
conclusionsBCT alters the BMI-%BF relationship, with lower %BF at a given BMI by the end of BCT compared with the beginning, highlighting the unreliability of BMI to try to estimate body composition. The specific BMI threshold of 25.0 kg/m
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