Estimating Lean Body Mass from Urinary Creatinine Excretion

Method:

(1) No dietary restrictions are required, although it probably should be fairly stable without wide swings in meat ingestion.

(2) The subjects ranged in age from 8 to 71 years. There were 21 males and 13 females.

(3) Timing of the urine collections need to be accurate. The urine specimens need to collected completely and stored at 4°C during the collection period.

(4) Urine is collected over 3 or more days and the average urinary creatinine excretion is calculated.

lean body mass in kilograms =

= (0.02908 * (urine creatinine in mg per day)) + 7.38

Limitations:

• The lean body mass is an approximation.

• Other methods are faster, cleaner and/or more accurate.