Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare two common laboratory methods of body composition assessment: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and the InBody® 270 Body Composition Analyzer.
Methods: Eighty-eight subjects (43 female, 45 male) volunteered for this study. Participants were tested in a controlled laboratory environment (i.e., 3-hour fast, no prior exercise, testing between 1100 and 1700 hours) first on the InBody® 270 followed by the DXA. A paired t-test was used to assess differences between the groups. Statistical significance was established at a p-value < 0.05.
Results: There were statistically significant differences between the DXA and InBody 270 for percent body fat, fat mass and fat-free mass. The DXA had significantly greater fat mass and percent body fat whereas fat-free mass was lower versus the InBody 270.
Conclusion: The Inbody 270 under-predicts fat mass and percent body fat; conversely, it over-predicts fat-free mass.