Composición Corporal de Lactantes Menores de un Año: Una Aplicación de los Índices de Masa Grasa y Masa Libre de Grasa

Introduction: Traditionally, the body mass index has been considered a measure of body adiposity. Nonetheless it does not distinguish between fat mass and fat free mass that are body compartments that change during growth. Methods: The study included male and female infants (n=34) from Hermosillo (urban) and Miguel Aleman (Agricultural area) in the State of Sonora, Mexico. We measured weight, length, four skinfolds and gathered socio-demographic data. Nutritional indexes were calculated and expressed as: body mass index (BMI), weight for length (W/A), weight for age (W/A) and height for age (H/A) and in reference to the WHO (2006) growth standards. Body composition was calculated, according to the Westrate and Deuremberg equations. The fat mass index and fat free mass index were calculated from weight, length, body composition and Hattori graphs were constructed. Results: We found two cases of wasting, four cases of low weight, and 4 infants with stunting. According to the Hattori graph, the majority of infants were positioned in the central quadrant and only the infants with wasting were positioned in the lower left quadrant (lean-slender). Of the low weight infants, two were in the lean-slender (also wasted) and the other two were in the lower central quadrant (lean-intermediate). Conclusion: This classification system positioned the wasted infants (<-2 Zscores W/L) in the lean-slender quadrant. In such circumstances, after an intervention process they could be followed-up in terms of changes in the proportion of fat mass and fat free mass