The majority of the available national reference data is for triceps and subscapular skinfolds, but the triceps is a sex-specific site and can reflect changes in the underlying triceps muscle rather than an actual change in body fatness. Skinfolds are useful in monitoring changes in fatness in children because of their small body size, and the majority of fat is subcutaneous even in obese children [40, 41]. The statistical relationships of skinfolds with percent and total body fat are often not as strong as that of BMI in both children and adults [42]. Also, we do not know the real upper distribution of subcutaneous
fat measurements because most obese children and adults have not had their skinfolds measured.