Nutritional Assessment and Profiling: Anthropometric

Introduction

Anthropometric nutritional assessment involves physical measurements of weight, height, and body compartments of fat and lean tissue. Measures of growth are important in assessing continued development of infants, children, and adolescents. Some measures such as height or head circumference reflect past or chronic nutritional status while others, such as arm circumference or skinfold thickness, tend to reflect present status.

This section describes measures of growth, body composition, and energy expenditure. Energy expenditure provides estimates of energy use and needs.