Comparative Evaluation of a Whole-Body Counter Potassium 40 Method for Measuring Lean Body Mass

Abstract

An evaluation of the whole-body counter potassium 40 (⁴⁰K) method of lean body mass (LBM) determination was made using the University of Florida whole-body counter. The accuracy and reproducibility of the whole-body counter method for measuring LBM was evaluated by comparing the results on 77 subjects with the results using an anthropometric method, a creatinine method, and with reported literature values. It was concluded that the whole-body counter ⁴⁰K method is a desirable means of determining LBM, not only because of its convenience and rapidity, but because of its accuracy and reproducibility, as shown by the comparisons made in this study. The assistance of Dr. W. O. Ash with statistical procedures and Mr. L. T. Fitzgerald with computer programming procedures and the clinical advice of Dr. Gerhard Freund is gratefully acknowledged. All computations were programmed and run on the IBM 709 computer at the University of Florida Computing Center.