Expertos nacionales e internacionales debaten los usos más recientes de la bioimpedancia para clasificar la hidratación.
Monitoring the hydration levels of the human body could help detect serious health problems in advance. This was one of the conclusions of a study presented during the panel ‘Hydration and body composition: health, function and models’ of the 10th International Symposium on Body Composition, held in Cascasi, Portugal, and organized by the Faculty of Human Motor (FMH) of the University of Lisbon.
According to Professor Henry C. Lukaski, a researcher at the Department of Kinesiology and Public Health Education at the University of North Dakota, in the United States, "bioimpedance is able to monitor changes in the hydration of patients undergoing dialysis and anticipate future complications. He can also identify individuals with fluid retention and breathing difficulties. In other cases, it may help detect individuals with excess hydration associated with acute heart failure.”
The expert also pointed out that "other positive uses of bioimpedance can lead to an adequate identification of alterations in hydration among the most vulnerable populations. Through this method it is possible to identify individuals who have inadequate hydration and who may be at risk in terms of mental function or suffer complications with certain doses of medication.”
The bioimpedance method evaluates the percentage of fat, lean matter and hydration in the human body and allows calculating the ideal weight range for the individual according to their sex and age. "The future of bioimpedance in hydration classification is promising. Numerous applications in medicine and the detection of possible risk groups such as the elderly and children may be targets of further research,” concludes the researcher.
In addition to Professor Henry C. Lukaski, the symposium featured interventions by Professor Dale Schoeller of the University of Wisconsin and Dr. Diana Thomas of Montclair University, both in the United States. Dr. Dale Schoeller presented the results of his research on the adequacy of the energy balance equation. According to this expert, "determining the relationship between body weight and the amount of food we consume is fundamental to understanding excess weight gain as we age, as well as losses during obesity treatment. This relationship is complicated, because our body is divided into two main components: fat-free mass, which is mainly composed of water, more protein and some minor components, and fat mass, which is entirely fat."
As Schoeller detailed, “Water is the most important nutrient for life and makes up nearly half to two-thirds of the body's weight. Measuring body changes is not easy. The development of methods to measure body water and its two main intra- and extracellular components that allow its measurements in general clinical situations is still recent."
Source: www.jano.es
