Today, there are many approaches to analyzing one’s health. Most people would think that stepping on a scale would provide them with the necessary information:
1) gained weight
2) lost weight
That number on the scale does not reveal much about what is happening in the body. In the past, the BMI (Body Mass Index) was calculated using a formula that included height, weight, and age. However, this tool, BMI, was never able to be used as a diagnostic tool.
BMI No Longer a Preferred Body Composition Measurement
The usual BMI approach cannot tell you or your doctor what is happening internally in your body. It gives a range of numbers that, for an individual, are not very enlightening. Issues such as excessive water retention in the body or visceral fat (fat surrounding the abdominal organs) often go undetected. Indeed, a person can have a flat stomach and visceral fat!
Visceral fat surrounds organs such as the liver, pancreas, and intestines. The fat contained within the body (visceral fat) can be compared to the fat underneath the skin (subcutaneous fat). Visceral fat is far more dangerous and puts you at risk for severe medical conditions such as stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
According to a Harvard Health newsletter, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the US and a significant cause of disability.
Links have been found between visceral fat and breast cancer and the need for gallbladder surgery. Such fat causes inflammation of the body’s tissues and organs. Additionally, visceral fat can make it more challenging to lose weight.
Visceral fat is also associated with insulin resistance. The body needs insulin. Insulin helps regulate the release of hormones. Insulin resistance, a consequence of visceral fat, impairs the cells’ ability to respond to normal levels of insulin. Visceral fat can contribute to metabolic disorders, which occur when the liver or pancreas, for example, do not function properly.
The pancreas releases a hormone that carries glucose (sugar) into the body’s cells. The disruption of normal hormone levels can lead to higher glucose levels in the blood, which in turn can contribute to the development of diabetes.
Research suggests that fat cells, particularly those in the abdominal region, are biologically active. It’s appropriate to think of fat as an endocrine organ or gland, producing hormones and other substances that can profoundly affect our health.
Although scientists are still deciphering the roles of individual hormones, it’s becoming clear that excess body fat, especially abdominal fat, disrupts the normal balance and functioning of these hormones.
What Does an InBody Analysis Measure?
The InBody Analysis Machine can measure various aspects that a scale cannot reveal. It can identify muscle imbalances and low levels of dry lean mass.
This measurement refers to your lean body mass, or fat-free mass, minus the total body water. It’s a useful measurement, as it gives you an idea of the solid components that make up your fat-free mass. This mainly consists of protein and bone minerals.
The official InBody Analysis defines their measurement of weight as:
Weight = Body Fat Mass + Total Body Water + Protein + Mineral.
The InBody Analysis Machine can measure the lean body mass in each body part separately. It can identify areas of inflammation, underdevelopment of the muscular skeleton, and imbalances. The InBody Analysis Machine can also give you the basal metabolic rate or the number of calories burned at a resting rate and a picture of how your body uses energy.
The Importance of Understanding Your InBody Composition Analysis
Body composition plays a crucial role in maintaining overall health and longevity. It can be influenced by various factors, including genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices. Significant decreases in bone mineral density signify osteopenia and osteoporosis, while reductions in skeletal muscle mass increase the risk of developing sarcopenia.
Height, weight, and age do not reveal the condition of a person’s body. These simple measurements lack the ability to analyze fat mass, bone mineral content, and skeletal muscle mass.
According to the NIH, body composition assessments enhance the diagnosis of obesity and the monitoring of responses to obesity treatment programs, especially important for obesity-related chronic diseases. Body mass is divided into two components: fat mass and FFM (fat-free mass). The constituents of FFM are skeletal muscle, body cell mass, total body water, and bone mineral mass.
As the body ages, the fat mass increases, and the FFM and those aspects of the FFM gradually decrease. A significant concern for physicians in the US and Europe is the number of women and men who experience osteoporotic fractures. Osteoporosis is a major public health problem contributing to fractures, loss of independence, and early mortality (death).
How does the InBody Analysis Machine Work?
The machine mainly uses bioelectrical impedance. It does this through small electrical currents, which pass through your body. The current alternates between a high and a low frequency. This allows the machine to measure your body’s water content.
The impulses then measure how fast the currents travel through different parts of the body.
In this way, the frequencies can accurately determine extracellular, intracellular, and total body water. The great thing about these measurements is their precision and accuracy. When a healthcare provider performs the test, they divide the measurements into multiple body parts. These include:
- Left arm
- Right arm
- Torso
- Left leg
- Right leg
It helps to provide a measurement of your entire body. At the same time, you get specific details about water weight, dry lean mass, and body fat for each of these areas.
InBody measures body composition without relying on empirical assumptions based on age, sex, ethnicity, or body shape, producing accurate and precise results that are validated against gold-standard methods.
The InBody Analysis Machine provides individual readings for everybody. The Body Mass Index categories do not account for differences in body types, regardless of whether two people have the same height, age, or weight.
Nor does this approach reveal the internal condition of the bodies being measured. As mentioned earlier, a person with a flat belly may have more significant visceral fat internally. This condition (a flat stomach with high visceral fat) means a low skeletal muscle mass and a higher body fat percentage.
Without a thorough analysis of body fat percentage in relation to skeletal muscle mass, it is difficult to determine the overall health of the body if the person’s weight is low.
