| Description | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Essential fat | 10-13% | 2-5% |
| Athletes | 14-20% | 6-13% |
| Fitness | 21-24% | 14-17% |
| Average | 25-31% | 18-24% |
| Obese | 32+% | 25+% |
| Age | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 17.7% | 8.5% |
| 25 | 18.4% | 10.5% |
| 30 | 19.3% | 12.7% |
| 35 | 21.5% | 13.7% |
| 40 | 22.2% | 15.3% |
| 45 | 22.9% | 16.4% |
| 50 | 25.2% | 18.9% |
| 55 | 26.3% | 20.9% |
The scientific term for body fat is "adipose tissue." Adipose tissue serves a number of important functions. Its primary purpose is to store lipids from which the body creates energy. In addition, it secretes a number of important hormones, and provides the body with some cushioning as well as insulation.
Body fat includes essential body fat and storage body fat. Essential body fat is a base level of fat that is found in most parts of the body. It is necessary fat that maintains life and reproductive functions. The amount of essential fat differs between men and women, and is typically around 2-5% in men, and 10-13% in women. The healthy range of body fat for men is typically defined as 8-19%, while the healthy range for women is 21-33%. While having excess body fat can have many detrimental effects on a person's health, insufficient body fat can have negative health effects of its own, and maintaining a body fat percentage below, or even at the essential body fat percentage range is a topic that should be discussed with a medical professional.
Storage fat is fat that accumulates in adipose tissue, be it subcutaneous fat (deep under the dermis and wrapped around vital organs) or visceral fat (fat located inside the abdominal cavity, between organs), and references to body fat typically refer to this type of fat. While some storage fat is ideal, excess amounts of storage fat can have serious negative health implications.
Excess body fat leads to the condition of being overweight and eventually to obesity given that insufficient measures are taken to curb increasing body fat. Note that being overweight does not necessarily indicate an excess of body fat. A person's body weight is comprised of multiple factors including (but not limited to) body fat, muscle, bone density, and water content. Thus, highly muscular people are often classified as overweight.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies obesity as one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide that is estimated to claim 111,909 to 365,000 deaths per year in the U.S. This has been a growing cause for concern because 36.5% of U.S. adults are defined as obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Obesity is associated with a reduction in quality of life, poorer mental health outcomes, obstructive sleep apnea, as well as multiple leading causes of death worldwide such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, certain cancers and diabetes. All of these potential complications have the ability to reduce a person's life expectancy, and as such, obesity is a medical condition that is studied by many researchers.
Body fat percentage formulas for males:
USC Units: BFP = 86.010×log10(abdomen-neck) - 70.041×log10(height) + 36.76
SI, Metric Units: BFP = 495 / (1.0324 - 0.19077×log10(waist-neck) + 0.15456×log10(height)) - 450
Body fat percentage formulas for females:
USC Units: BFP = 163.205×log10(waist+hip-neck) - 97.684×(log10(height)) - 78.387
SI, Metric Units: BFP = 495 / (1.29579 - 0.35004×log10(waist+hip-neck) + 0.22100×log10(height)) - 450
Body fat percentage formula for adult males:
BFP = 1.20 × BMI + 0.23 × Age - 16.2
Body fat percentage formula for adult females:
BFP = 1.20 × BMI + 0.23 × Age - 5.4
Body fat percentage formula for boys:
BFP = 1.51 × BMI - 0.70 × Age - 2.2
Body fat percentage formula for girls:
BFP = 1.51 × BMI - 0.70 × Age + 1.4