The present study was performed to investigate the age-dependent changes in body composition and the possible role of growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) in these changes in postmenopausal Japanese women. A total of 161 Japanese women aged 45-88 years (mean 62) were enrolled in the cross-sectional study. Body composition (bone mineral content (BMC), lean body mass (LBM) and fat) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and the percentage of BMC, LBM and fat was calculated by dividing each absolute value of body composition by total body mass. Urinary GH concentration divided by creatinine in nocturnal urine samples collected just after waking was used as an index of endogenous GH secretion. Serum levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were measured by RIA. Urinary GH levels as well as serum levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 declined with age. BMC, %BMC and LBM also declined with age, while fat mass and %fat did not obviously change with age. Urinary GH levels as well as serum levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 correlated positively with BMC, even if age was taken into account. On the other hand, urinary GH correlated negatively with fat and %fat. In contrast, serum levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 correlated positively with fat and %fat. LBM did not correlate with either urinary GH or serum IGFBP-3 levels but exhibited a weakly positive correlation with serum IGF-I level. The present study suggests that the GH-IGF-I-IGFBP-3 axis positively regulates bone mass, and that GH and IGF-I-IGFBP-3 inversely regulate fat mass, i.e. GH negatively and IGF-I-IGFBP-3 positively regulates it.