Effects of Abnormal Total Cholesterol Level on Bodycomposition Parameters

Abstract

This paper describes the effect of abnormal total cholesterol (TC) level on the bodycomposition parameters that can be measured non-invasively using bioelectrical Impedance analysis (BIA). A total of 190 subjects (86 males and 104 females) were recruited in the study which was conducted at the University of Malaya Student Health Clinic (UMHC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Subjects’ serum was collected for measurement of TC and bioelectrical impedance was measureed for bodycomposition. Subjects were divided into 2 groups according to their TC values. Group 1 (n=92) consists of subjects with normal TC value ( 5.2 mmol/L). Statistical analysis using independent sample t-test was used to investigate the relationship between BIA parameters and TC. The results revealed that there were differences in age, weight, body mass index(BMI), body capacitance (BC), extracellular mass (EM), lean body mass (LBM), fat mass (FM), basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total body water to total water ratio (TBW/TW) among the subjects with normal and abnormal TC. TC level was significantly higher in older subjects (p=0.000). In Group 2 the BC, FM, BMI, FM and BMR were significantly higher (p 0.05). In conclusion, the results show that there were differences in BIA parameters among the TC levels.