ENERGY BALANCE AND BODY

COMPOSITION
GROUP 3 MEMBERS
CARLO MELEKE
ANGELA JAMES
ESNART KAPONDERA
TAWINA MFUTSO
FATIMA AMIN
VINCENT KAITANO
DOREEN GANDE
BROAD OBJECTIVE
• By the end of this presentation student nurses will acquire
knowledge on Energy Balance and Body Composition
SPECIFIC OJECTIVES
By the end of this presentation students nurses will be able to:
• Describe energy balance
• Explain types of Energy Balance
• Describe factors determining Energy Intake
• Describe factors determining Energy Expenditure
• Describe body composition
• Describe the assessment methods of body composition
INTRODUCTION

• The amount of energy you consume should be in balance

with the amount of energy your body requires ( McGuire and
Beerman 2011).
• A simple equation is often used to express this relationship
• When energy intake equals energy expenditure , a person is
in a state of Energy Balance.
• Energy imbalance is a state in which the amount of energy
consumed does not equal the amount of energy consumed by
the body.
TYPES OF ENERGY BALANCE
1. Positive balance
• Consuming more energy than the body needs puts the
person in a state of positive energy balance
• If you have positive balance you have achieved the right
balance for weight gain for some people like; pregnant
women, growing children and weight lifter.
• Adipose tissue serves as a body’s primary energy reserve
and adipocytes increase in size and number when body fat
increases.
2.Negative balance
• It is state in which energy intake is less than energy
expenditure
• When you have negative number you have found the energy
imbalance necessary for weight loss this is also called energy
deficit like people who loose weight.
• When body fat decreases, adipocytes decrease in size but not
in number.
3. Perfect balance
• This is when your energy intake is equal to your energy
expenditure.
• In this state there is no weight gain or weight loss.
• When energy intake equals energy expenditure, the body
tends to be stable.
What determines Energy Intake
Hunger and satiety
• Hunger is the basic physiological need for food while
satiety is the sensation of being having eaten enough.
The brain releases catabolic and anabolic neuro-peptides
that promotes weight loss and weight gain respectively
Circulating concentrations of glucose, fatty acids, and
amino acids influence hunger
Appetite also influences hunger and satiety
What determines Energy Expenditure
• Basal Metabolism
• Physical activity
BODY COMPOSITION
• It refers to the percentage of fats , bones and muscles in your
body.
• The distribution of these components provides an important
indicator of a person’s nutritional status and the overall
health.
• Distribution of the components have an impact on health and
can cause diseases.
BODY COMPARTMENT conti…
• The body can be said to have two compartments; the fat
compartment and the fat-free/ lean compartment.
• The fat compartment consists mostly of stored triglyceride
and supporting structures.
• The other parts (muscles, water and bone) are part of the fat-
free compartment
ASSESSMENT OF BODY COMPOSITION
• There are various methods of assessing a person’s body
composition. Among them include;
• Densitometry
• Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)
• Bioelectrical impendence
• Near-infrared interactance
• Skinfold thickness
• Whole body air-displacement
DENSITOMETRY

• It is also called underwater weighing.

• A person is weighed inside and outside the water.
• This method is used to estimate the body fat by comparing
the weigh of a person on land to the weight underwater.
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)

• It is a method used to assess body composition by passing x-

ray beams through the body.
• It is done while the person is lying on a table, a scanning
device passes over the body. The x-ray beams emitted
differentiate between the fat mass, lean mass and skeletal
mass.
• It then displays a two-dimensional image of the body on a
computer screen.
Bioelectrical impendence
• Electrodes are placed on a person’s hand and foot and a weak
electrical current is passed through the body.
• The conductivity of the current is measured which provides
an estimate of the fat mass and fat free mass.
Skinfold thickness
• A health professional will use skin calipers to measure the
skinfold thickness with its underlying layer of fat at precise
locations on the body (where fat is commonly found).
Whole body air-displacement
• This body composition assessment method measures air
displacement while the person sits inside a sealed chamber.
• The increase in air pressure is proportionate to the body size.
• This method is more convenient compared to the underwater
weighing and it also takes lesser time.
Near-infrared interactance

• It is based on the principle that tissues of varying densities

reflect and absorb infrared light differently.
• A device that emits light in the infrared spectrum s used to
estimate the amounts of fat and fat free mass.
• However, many experts say that this method doe not provide
an accurate assessment of the body’s composition.
SUMMARY
• Energy balance describes the relationship between energy
intake and energy expenditure. The energy balance can either
be positive energy balance, negative energy balance or
perfect energy balance.
• It refers to the percentage of fats , bones and muscles in your
body. The distribution of these components provides an
important indicator of a person’s nutritional status and the
overall health. There are many ways of assessing the body
composition of a person.
REFERENCES
McGuire M & Beerman K. A, (2011). Nutritional sciences
from fundamentals to food (2nd ed.). Wadsworth Cengage
Learning.