Bridging the Gap Between Laboratory and Clinic

Although impressive advances have been made in the methodology for measuring human body composition, this technology is little used in medical practice. This fact is both surprising and disappointing when one considers the importance in clinical medicine of such disorders of body composition as high-risk obesity and protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). One of the reasons for this neglect has been our inability, to date, to convince practicing physicians that information about a patient’s body composition can significantly enhance diagnosis and care. Indeed, a major challenge facing clinical nutritionists today is to bridge the unfortunate gap that exists between modern body composition science and the clinical application of that science.