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Examination of a Sigmoid Shape Composition for BMI Fluctuation and Fat Percentage

Received: 25 June 2021    Accepted: 12 July 2021    Published: 16 July 2021
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Abstract

Body mass index (BMI) is an index of physique proposed by Quetelet, and has been given meaning as the Quetelet function, which is the ratio of body weight to the square of height. In recent years, BMI has been considered an indicator of obesity due to its high correlation with body fat percentage. However, while the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage shows a high correlation, the composition of that relationship is not well understood. Moreover, there is almost no information on the relational composition in males and females. In this study, we investigated that relational composition to determine whether the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage follows a linear trend or a curvilinear trend. For that purpose, we analyzed the changes in body fat percentage associated with fluctuations in BMI. For BMI fluctuations, the body fat percentage of the scale width of one BMI unit was calculated when BMI was increased one unit at a time, and the changes in the calculated statistics were analyzed. The type of function series to which the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage fits was then verified. The results demonstrated that in males the fluctuations in body fat percentage with respect to BMI show a sigmoid shape. In males, when BMI exceeds 25, the velocity of body fat percentage decreases and soon reaches a constant level. A sigmoid curve is thought to be a finding that means a critical point in the inflection point phenomenon. Therefore, the fact that the change in body fat percentage with respect to BMI shows a sigmoid shape means that, in males, body fat percentage shows a critical point at a BMI of 25. In females, however, the critical point is a BMI of 28.6 and body fat percentage reaches a constant level when a point higher than that in males is exceeded, but the shape could not be judged to be sigmoid. There are limits to BMI for humans, we propose a limiting body fat percentage hypothesis in which body fat percentage becomes constant from a BMI of around 32.

Published in American Journal of Sports Science (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11
Page(s) 60-65
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

BMI, Body Fat Percentage, Fluctuation, Sigmoid Shape

References
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[3] Preece, M. A., & Baines, M. J. (1978). A new family of mathematical models describing the human growth curve. Annals of Human Biology, 5: 1-24.
[4] Largo, R. H., T. Gasser, A. Prader, W. Stuetzle and P. J. Huber. (1978). Analysis of the adolescent growth spurt using smoothing spline functions. Ann. Hum. Biol., 5: 421-434.
[5] Hauspie, R. C. (1989). Mathematical models for the study of individual growth patterns. Revue d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, 37: 461-476.
[6] Fujii, K. (2017). Re-verification with regard to Scammon’s growth curve proposal of Fujimmon’s growth curve as a tentative Idea. American Journal of Sports Science, 5 (3): 14-20.
[7] Fujii, K. (2006). A scientific approach to growth and development– Physical information science for growth and development & health–. Sankeisha, Nagoya. (in Japanese)
[8] Fujii, K., Mishima, T., Tanaka, N. (2021). Health Development Science in Body Information, Kyorinshoin, Tokyo. (in Japanese)
[9] Quetelet, A. (1835). Sur I’ home et I’ developpement de ses facultes. Essai sur physique sociale, Vol. 2, Bachelier.
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[15] Tanaka, N., Fujii, K., Asauchi, D., Ishigaki, T. (2007). Auxological approach to relational construction with regarding mutual relationship among body compositions, physical and motor fitness. Tokai Annual Report health and Physical Education, 29: 37-46. (in Japanese)
[16] Tanaka, N., Fujii, K., Ishigaki, T., Asauchi, D. (2008). An approach to evaluation chart of physical fitness based on difference of body form quality in junior high school boys. Tokai Annual Report health and Physical Education, 30: 33-42. (in Japanese)
[17] Tanaka, N., Fujii, K., Ishigaki, T., Nho, H. S., Kim S. H., Hanai, T. (2009). Auxological approach to relational construction among body compositions and physical fitness in Korean junior high school students. Japan Journal of Human Growth and Development Research, 41: 44-57. (in Japanese)
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[20] Fujii, K., Mishima, T., Watanabe, E., and Seki, K. (2010). Change with Age in Regression Construction of Fat Percentage for BMI in School-Age. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 30: 69-76.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Katsunori Fujii, Nozomi Tanaka, Yuki Takeyama, Tohru Ishigaki. (2021). Examination of a Sigmoid Shape Composition for BMI Fluctuation and Fat Percentage. American Journal of Sports Science, 9(3), 60-65. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11

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    ACS Style

    Katsunori Fujii; Nozomi Tanaka; Yuki Takeyama; Tohru Ishigaki. Examination of a Sigmoid Shape Composition for BMI Fluctuation and Fat Percentage. Am. J. Sports Sci. 2021, 9(3), 60-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11

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    AMA Style

    Katsunori Fujii, Nozomi Tanaka, Yuki Takeyama, Tohru Ishigaki. Examination of a Sigmoid Shape Composition for BMI Fluctuation and Fat Percentage. Am J Sports Sci. 2021;9(3):60-65. doi: 10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11,
      author = {Katsunori Fujii and Nozomi Tanaka and Yuki Takeyama and Tohru Ishigaki},
      title = {Examination of a Sigmoid Shape Composition for BMI Fluctuation and Fat Percentage},
      journal = {American Journal of Sports Science},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {60-65},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajss.20210903.11},
      abstract = {Body mass index (BMI) is an index of physique proposed by Quetelet, and has been given meaning as the Quetelet function, which is the ratio of body weight to the square of height. In recent years, BMI has been considered an indicator of obesity due to its high correlation with body fat percentage. However, while the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage shows a high correlation, the composition of that relationship is not well understood. Moreover, there is almost no information on the relational composition in males and females. In this study, we investigated that relational composition to determine whether the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage follows a linear trend or a curvilinear trend. For that purpose, we analyzed the changes in body fat percentage associated with fluctuations in BMI. For BMI fluctuations, the body fat percentage of the scale width of one BMI unit was calculated when BMI was increased one unit at a time, and the changes in the calculated statistics were analyzed. The type of function series to which the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage fits was then verified. The results demonstrated that in males the fluctuations in body fat percentage with respect to BMI show a sigmoid shape. In males, when BMI exceeds 25, the velocity of body fat percentage decreases and soon reaches a constant level. A sigmoid curve is thought to be a finding that means a critical point in the inflection point phenomenon. Therefore, the fact that the change in body fat percentage with respect to BMI shows a sigmoid shape means that, in males, body fat percentage shows a critical point at a BMI of 25. In females, however, the critical point is a BMI of 28.6 and body fat percentage reaches a constant level when a point higher than that in males is exceeded, but the shape could not be judged to be sigmoid. There are limits to BMI for humans, we propose a limiting body fat percentage hypothesis in which body fat percentage becomes constant from a BMI of around 32.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Examination of a Sigmoid Shape Composition for BMI Fluctuation and Fat Percentage
    AU  - Katsunori Fujii
    AU  - Nozomi Tanaka
    AU  - Yuki Takeyama
    AU  - Tohru Ishigaki
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    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11
    T2  - American Journal of Sports Science
    JF  - American Journal of Sports Science
    JO  - American Journal of Sports Science
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8540
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20210903.11
    AB  - Body mass index (BMI) is an index of physique proposed by Quetelet, and has been given meaning as the Quetelet function, which is the ratio of body weight to the square of height. In recent years, BMI has been considered an indicator of obesity due to its high correlation with body fat percentage. However, while the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage shows a high correlation, the composition of that relationship is not well understood. Moreover, there is almost no information on the relational composition in males and females. In this study, we investigated that relational composition to determine whether the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage follows a linear trend or a curvilinear trend. For that purpose, we analyzed the changes in body fat percentage associated with fluctuations in BMI. For BMI fluctuations, the body fat percentage of the scale width of one BMI unit was calculated when BMI was increased one unit at a time, and the changes in the calculated statistics were analyzed. The type of function series to which the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage fits was then verified. The results demonstrated that in males the fluctuations in body fat percentage with respect to BMI show a sigmoid shape. In males, when BMI exceeds 25, the velocity of body fat percentage decreases and soon reaches a constant level. A sigmoid curve is thought to be a finding that means a critical point in the inflection point phenomenon. Therefore, the fact that the change in body fat percentage with respect to BMI shows a sigmoid shape means that, in males, body fat percentage shows a critical point at a BMI of 25. In females, however, the critical point is a BMI of 28.6 and body fat percentage reaches a constant level when a point higher than that in males is exceeded, but the shape could not be judged to be sigmoid. There are limits to BMI for humans, we propose a limiting body fat percentage hypothesis in which body fat percentage becomes constant from a BMI of around 32.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Graduate School of Business Administration and Computer Science, Aichi Institute of Technology, Toyota, Japan

  • Department of Sport and Health Science, Tokai Gakuen University, Miyoshi, Japan

  • Graduate School of Business Administration and Computer Science, Aichi Institute of Technology, Toyota, Japan

  • Department of Exercise and Health Science, Aichi University of the Arts, Nagakute, Japan

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