Body Composition of Division I Collegiate Female Equestrian Athletes

Abstract

PURPOSE: To compare measures of total and regional body composition using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in NCAA Division I collegiate equestrian athletes to a group of age, sex and BMI matched non-athlete college students. METHODS: Thirty-one female collegiate equestrian athletes were matched to a population of normal, non-athlete college students by age (19.8±0.2 vs. 19.8±0.2 yrs.), body mass index (22.3±0.4 vs. 22.6±0.4 kg/m2), sex and ethnicity. Total and regional fat tissue mass (FM), lean tissue mass (LM), bone mineral density (BMD), and abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were measured by DXA. Paired t-tests assessed total and regional differences between equestrian athletes and controls. RESULTS: Equestrian athletes had a lower total fat percentage (%fat) than controls (30.7±0.9 vs. 33.1±0.1%, p=0.03). There was a trend for the equestrian athletes to have lower total FM (18.4±0.8 vs. 20.0±0.9 kg, p=0.06) than controls. There were no significant differences in total LM (41.0±0.9 vs. 39.9±0.8 kg, p=0.33), total BMD (1.15±0.02 vs. 1.15±0.02 g/cm3, p=0.92) and VAT (0.13±0.03 vs. 0.16±0.03 kg, p=0.25) between equestrian athletes and controls. However, equestrian athletes, when compared to the controls, had significantly lower leg %fat (33.0±0.8 vs. 37.3±0.9%, p<0.001), leg FM (7.0±0.3 vs. 8.0±0.4 kg, p=0.01) and higher leg LM (14.1±0.4 vs. 13.2±0.3 kg, p=0.04). The greater leg lean mass in equestrian riders resulted in a smaller upper to lower body lean mass ratio (1.706 ± 0.019 vs. 1.812 ± 0.030, p=0.005) compared to controls. There was no difference in leg BMD between equestrian athletes and controls (1.19±0.02 vs. 1.21±0.02 g/cm3, p=0.46). CONCLUSIONS: The lower total percent body fat in equestrian athletes seems to be influenced by differences in leg composition with equestrian athletes having significantly more lean mass and less fat mass. These results are consistent with the role the legs play in horseback riding and demonstrate an effect of either training or horseback riding on body composition compared to matched controls.