The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan

Obesity and low muscle mass are major public health concerns, especially in older adults, due to their strong links to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality. Beyond body mass index, body composition metrics including skeletal muscle, fat mass, and visceral adipose tissue offer deeper insight...

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Main Authors: Jonathan P. Bennett, Soo Lim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korean Society for the Study of Obesity 2025-04-01
Series:Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome
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Online Access:http://www.jomes.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.7570/jomes25010
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author Jonathan P. Bennett
Soo Lim
author_facet Jonathan P. Bennett
Soo Lim
author_sort Jonathan P. Bennett
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description Obesity and low muscle mass are major public health concerns, especially in older adults, due to their strong links to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality. Beyond body mass index, body composition metrics including skeletal muscle, fat mass, and visceral adipose tissue offer deeper insights into nutrition and disease risk. These measures are essential for both cross-sectional assessments and longitudinal tracking, providing a clearer picture of health changes over time. Selecting body composition assessment tools requires balancing cost, practicality, accuracy, and data quality. The right tools enhance research, refine clinical assessments, and inform targeted interventions. Aligning methods with specific research or clinical goals improves disease risk stratification and advances personalized treatments. This review highlights the importance of integrating body composition assessment into research and clinical practice, addressing knowledge gaps across diverse populations and emphasizing its potential in advancing precision medicine. It also highlights recent advancements in body composition assessment techniques that warrant consideration when evaluating techniques for a specific application. Future efforts should focus on refining these tools, expanding their accessibility, and developing comprehensive risk models that incorporate body composition alongside behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors to improve disease prediction and prevention strategies.
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spelling doaj-art-40cbfb51697848f08ab7d9cd64b8a39e2025-08-20T02:20:08ZengKorean Society for the Study of ObesityJournal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome2508-62352025-04-0134212013710.7570/jomes25010jomes25010The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the LifespanJonathan P. Bennett0Soo Lim1Department of Epidemiology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USADepartment of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, KoreaObesity and low muscle mass are major public health concerns, especially in older adults, due to their strong links to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality. Beyond body mass index, body composition metrics including skeletal muscle, fat mass, and visceral adipose tissue offer deeper insights into nutrition and disease risk. These measures are essential for both cross-sectional assessments and longitudinal tracking, providing a clearer picture of health changes over time. Selecting body composition assessment tools requires balancing cost, practicality, accuracy, and data quality. The right tools enhance research, refine clinical assessments, and inform targeted interventions. Aligning methods with specific research or clinical goals improves disease risk stratification and advances personalized treatments. This review highlights the importance of integrating body composition assessment into research and clinical practice, addressing knowledge gaps across diverse populations and emphasizing its potential in advancing precision medicine. It also highlights recent advancements in body composition assessment techniques that warrant consideration when evaluating techniques for a specific application. Future efforts should focus on refining these tools, expanding their accessibility, and developing comprehensive risk models that incorporate body composition alongside behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors to improve disease prediction and prevention strategies.http://www.jomes.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.7570/jomes25010body compositionclinical decision-makingrisk assessmentobesitychronic diseasesarcopeniatechnology assessmentbiomedical
spellingShingle Jonathan P. Bennett
Soo Lim
The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan
Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome
body composition
clinical decision-making
risk assessment
obesity
chronic disease
sarcopenia
technology assessment
biomedical
title The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan
title_full The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan
title_fullStr The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan
title_full_unstemmed The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan
title_short The Critical Role of Body Composition Assessment in Advancing Research and Clinical Health Risk Assessment across the Lifespan
title_sort critical role of body composition assessment in advancing research and clinical health risk assessment across the lifespan
topic body composition
clinical decision-making
risk assessment
obesity
chronic disease
sarcopenia
technology assessment
biomedical
url http://www.jomes.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.7570/jomes25010
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