1. Introduction

Modern humans usually spend their free time with technical devices (car, computer, smartphone, remote controller, etc.) or passive entertainment such as watching television, surfing the Internet, all of which moves them away from daily activities requiring movement. Thereby, people progressively lose the need to move at all and be physically active. Be it workplace, fun or rest, contemporary humans, therefore, spend most of their time in an unhealthy environment. Such way of sedentary lifestyle faces each person with a number of risk factors, above all with hypokinetisia [1]. It has been determined that most non-infectious diseases have

prevalence at either high level or constantly rising. Despite a growing advancement in the last 30 years, coronary diseases, or more precisely coronary artery disease, remains the number one cause of death in Serbia, equally present among both males and females alike [2, 3]. The lack of physical activity has been recognized as one of the main causes of these diseases, and is considered as the primary risk factor, alongside with smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure (hypertension) [4].

• the protein component, as the basis for the contractile component responsible

Relation between Lifestyle and Body Composition among Young Females in Serbia of 18–29…

In addition to these basic components of body composition, index indicators can be defined with the task of determining the relation between individual elements or

In existing research, the BMI has been presented as one of the crucial and basic parameters of obesity. The BMI presents the ratio of body high and body weight and is the simplest and most commonly used measure for determining body state of observed population and samples. Even though the BMI does not allow a detailed insight into the state and mutual relations of structural components such as the overall amount of fat or the distribution of fat in particular segments of the body, which can vary significantly within a normal values of body mass index [29], it has been shown that the values of this index had great influence on inflammatory and lipid markers (cardiovascular biomarkers) in a research that included a large number of women [30]. On the basis of results published by the Serbian Institute for Public Health, adult population in Serbia is among the highest worldwide by the number of persons and deaths from heart and

blood vessels conditions, metabolic and malignant diseases, etc. [31, 32].

Owing to technological advancements, it is nowadays simple, fast, reliable, reproducible, and non-invasive to systematically follow morphological characteristic. Various methods are available to estimate or directly measure body composition. Measuring body composition with electric multichannel bioimpedance is a new generation technology that enables the direct measurement of the basic components of body composition. In addition to that, InBody 720 provides valid data in

Body fat, that is, the percentage of body fat, is the only component of body composition that has the tendency of increasing almost through entire lifespan [34, 35]. In addition to the biological influences related to aging [36], the change of the lifestyle of modern humans (reduced physical activity and increased energy intake) have caused an enormous increase of body fat to be one of the basic determinants of health or illness. As Gába et al. argue [37], the prevention of excessive gain in body mass-fat has become a public health priority in the developed countries, and in Serbia alike [38]. In contrast, the reduced muscle components of body composition are inevitable side effects of aging, whereby body mass remains

Besides the basic elements gained through a direct measurement of body composition, such as body fat, muscle mass, a very important scientific and medical role belongs to index indicators like muscle mass index and fat tissue index (SMM,

Following the changes of body composition with different age groups is important not only for controlling the current status, but also for determining the trends of changes of the overall mass or particular parts of the given structure. At present, there is an increasing importance and need to systematically follow relevant indicators of body composition of sportspersons, persons exercising for recreational

The aim of this article is to determine the influence of lifestyle and living habits to the characteristics of body composition among young females in Serbia. It is well-known that the habits one acquires from childhood to early adulthood are very important, since they present a fundamental personal foundation for a lifestyle one has in adulthood and maturity. Thus, this particular age group is a turning point for the final adoption of healthy or unhealthy life habits. Our secondary aim is defining a multidimensional model of dependence between body composition, lifestyle, and nutrition, which would enable programming of optimal

patterns of behavior in both spaces, as a planned corrective measure.

for locomotion, that is, movement [28].

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83586

the simplest and non-invasive manner [27, 33].

the same or increases on the expense of fat [34, 39].

purposes or persons who do not exercise alike [41–43].

FFMI, or FMI) [40].

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even segmented relations between the same elements.

Obesity figures as one of—if not the—consequence of such lifestyle/insufficient physical activity that represents a well-known cause of early death [5], hypertension, coronary heart disease, lower quality of life and sleeping problems [6], and the World Health Organization rightfully deals with it as a global epidemic [7]. Therefore, obesity has become one of the biggest public health problems in the world [8] and it could develop into the leading public health problem in this century [9]. Since obesity can be defined as an excessive body fat content, and overweight as an excess of body mass relative to height [10], it can be closely related to the estimation of body composition which is very important not only for the determination of nutritional status in health conditions and in disease [11], but also in various fields such as nutrition, medicine, and sports sciences [12, 13].
