Tackling Childhood Obesity in Europe with the Help of Nuclear Techniques: IAEA Symposium at European Congress on Obesity
A stable isotope technique to assess body composition
The IAEA initiative will use the deuterium dilution technique
in a sample of school children from 10 countries participating in the project (Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Hungary, the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Latvia, Portugal and Ukraine) to describe the
relation between BMI and body composition. The deuterium dilution technique is
state-of-the-art methodology to assess body composition and thus provides a
tool to evaluate the effects of altered diet and physical activity on
adiposity.
A person drinks a weighed amount of water, that is labelled
with deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen. The water is labelled but is
non-radioactive and therefore has no adverse health consequences. After a few
hours the isotope in the labelled water is evenly spread throughout the body water,
which can be sampled in the form of saliva or urine. Deuterium enrichment in saliva is measured
using an FTIR or an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). Since the amount of
deuterium is known, the total volume of body water can be calculated from the
enrichment. Based on the assumption,
that fat is water-free, scientists can accurately determine the body’s ratio of
fat and fat-free tissue. This nuclear technique is accurate and safe to use in
all age groups, it is not associated with any radiation hazard, and is suitable
for the use in field settings.
Source: IAEA