ИСТИНА

In addition to ‘classical’ evidence of strong relationship between the endomorphy rating of the Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotype and body fatness, our recent data suggest that the mesomorphy rating is highly proportional to the fat-free mass index. In terms of the bioelectrical impedance analysis, this means that the mesomorphy rating can be assessed using the inverse value of the whole-body resistance. This observation enables to obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of the Heath-Carter somatotype within the conventional procedure of bioimpedance measurements. Our data show that the bioimpedance-based equations for the endomorphy and mesomorphy ratings in Russian children and adolescents are also applicable to other ethnic groups, such as Adygeans, Kalmyks and Tatars. Availability of mass population bioimpedance data in Russia, with nearly 2 million BIA measurement records obtained from the national network of Health Centers in 2018, makes it possible to get detailed knowledge on age- and sex-related differences, as well as geographical variation of the somatotype in the Russian population. Preliminary results of this approach are discussed.