ABSTRACT
Body composition refers to the amounts and proportions of the body constituents, the atoms, molecules, and tissues that comprise body mass. Interventions designed to modify body composition often have a single aim, for example, to reduce weight and body fat or increase muscle or bone mass. Concern for the obesity epidemic and the health risks associated with excess adiposity has motivated significant efforts to develop interventions for reducing body weight and body fat in overweight and obese children and youth. Concern for the childhood obesity epidemic has resulted in weight management interventions among children and youth focused more on body weight and body fat than optimizing lean mass. Childhood is a period of rapid changes in stature, mass, and body composition which includes tremendous skeletal adaptations. The independent effects of exercise and changes in body composition on metabolic outcomes is important to understand, as the motivation underlying interventions aimed at modifying body composition is often to improve metabolic outcomes.
